Madison Central powers past Lewisburg, into second round of MHSAA 6A Playoffs

MADISON — On Monday night, it was all about defense for Madison Central, especially in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Jaguars used stiff half-court defense in the final period to help get past Lewisburg 46-34 in the First Round of the MHSAA Girls Class 6A playoffs on Monday night.

MORE: Monday night MHSAA Girls Basketball Playoff Scoreboard

Madison Central (18-12) will travel to Tupelo in the Second Round of the MHSAA Class 6A playoffs Friday night.

“Glad to get to the win, but I don’t think we played as well as we could have," Madison Central coach Tameika Brown said. "We missed a lot of shots because we were playing a little too fast on offense taking shots we normally don’t take. I felt like our defense was pretty solid. We knew they shot the ball well from the three-point line and we did a good job defending that.”

The Lady Jaguars never trailed the entire game.

Madison Central jumped out to a 13-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Lewisburg went on a quick 5-0 run to begin the period to cut the lead down to 13-10. Late in the quarter, Izzy Goss hit a three-pointer for the Lady Patriots to cut the Madison Central down to 18-17. Madison Central’s Eminah Thurman hit a three-point play with just under a minute to give the Lady Jaguars a 21-17 lead at halftime.

The third quarter was back and forth, with both teams trading baskets. Lewisburg's Allison Irby hit an acrobatic bank shot at the buzzer to cut the Lady Jaguars' lead to 29-27.

The fourth quarter was all Madison Central, as the Lady Jaguars opened the final period on a 8-2 run to extend their lead to 37-29 and closed the game out on a 9-5 run to seal the game. Madison Central switched to a 2-2-1 defense that gave Lewisburg fits in a seven-point fourth quarter.

“We knew that was their strength, was they shoot the three-ball well," Brown said. "So we had to play wide and defend the three-point line and we did that pretty well. My kids stepped up scoring wise when we needed to, and we lived to fight for another day. We know Tupelo because we played them last year, so we got to go up there — and we know they're good — and come up with a game plan and execute.”

Jaydia Morris had a game-high 14 points to lead Madison Central, while Lauren Sutton added 10 points for the Lady Jaguars.

“We executed even though we struggle scoring, but we played as a team,” Morris said. “Defensively we wanted to put pressure on them to turn the ball over and we did that.”

Goss and Allie Carroll each had 11 points to lead Lewisburg, while Irby added 10 points for the Lady Patriots (18-12). Lewisburg was in the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and

“Tonight just wasn’t our night,” said Lewisburg coach Kristen Coleman. “Shots we normally make weren’t falling and we would try to attack the basket they wouldn’t fall and I felt like we played pretty good defense. This was a special group that had to get over some adversity this year and set records in the program, so we got a lot of this group back for next year and will work to get back.”