MHSAA 5A girls basketball playoffs: Canton Lady Tigers power past Florence, into championship game
The Canton Lady Tigers used a huge fourth quarter to power past Florence 52-38 and punched their ticket to the 2024 MHSAA Class 5A Championship game.
They’ll face the winner of Pontotoc and Laurel in the title round at 6 p.m. Friday night.
If they can play like they did in the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers (27-4) should be more than competitive.
Led by star forward Shamira Morton, Canton out-scored Florence 22-9 in the final eight minutes and didn’t allow the Lady Eagles (25-8) a single bucket in the final 2:23.
“We told the girls you can’t just be content with being here,” Canton coach Melissa Word said. “We have to finish what we started. We’ve been through a lot injury wise. We’ve been missing our starting point guard for 10 games, and the seniors have really picked things up and pushed us in the right direction.”
Morton finished with a team-high 14 points and barely missed a double-double with nine rebounds. She was one of three Lady Tigers in double figures scoring, with Na’miya Davis adding 11 points and Kaniyah Hawkins chipping in 10.
The Lady Tigers led it 13-12 after the first quarter, but trailed 25-23 at the half. The third quarter was hard to watch, but Canton out-scored Florence 7-4 and held a slim 30-27 lead going into the fourth.
That’s when the Tigers started clicking.
Morton kicked things off with a turnaround jumper, and Kylei Rogers followed that up by drawing a foul and converting both free throws. Morton hit a couple of layups and Hawkins converted a pair of free throws.
Just like that, the Tigers were up 43-32 and the game felt out-of-reach for Florence.
“We just played together,” Morton said. “We had to hustle hard to get loose balls and rebounds. We found some open shots in the paint, but we really won the game with our defense there at the end.”
The Canton Lady Tigers celebrate with their fans following a semifinal win over Florence in the 2024 MHSAA Class 5A Girls State Basketball Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at the Mississippi Coliseum.
Tyler Cleveland, SBLive
