Ingomar advances to MHSAA Class 2A Championship with 61-52 win over Heidelberg
The Ingomar Lady Falcons will play for another MHSAA State Championship after Tuesday’s 61-52 semifinal win over Heidelberg.
Ingomar (31-4) will face New Site (24-5) in the title game at 2 p.m. Friday on this same court. The Lady Royals defeated Bay Springs 60-47 in the first semifinal game.
Reigning Miss Basketball winner Macie Phifer was as-advertised for Ingomar in Tuesday’s win, pouring in 25 points and 14 rebounds, but several of her teammates stepped up down the stretch to seal the win in a tight contest and got away from the Lady Oilers late.
Heidelberg (20-8) led by nine at the half, 31-22, thanks to an explosive first half from freshman guard Mariyah Ferrell, who led the Oilers with 24 points.
But Ingomar erased that deficit in the third quarter and pulled ahead with 4:05 left in the fourth on a pair of free throws from Daylen Grisham.
The Ingomar defense took over from there, holding Heidelberg to just five points over the final four minutes of the game.
"The biggest adjustment for us after the half was switching to zone pressure," Ingomar coach Trent Adair said. "It was pretty clear we couldn't cover them playing man-to-man. We did a good job with that zone press and sprinting back on defense to kind of slow them down."
