Tupelo punches ticket to Jackson with 58-51 win over Horn Lake in 6A Quarterfinals

ITTA BENA — It’s been a while since Tupelo as been in the Mississippi Coliseum.

Now they’re heading back to the Big House.

Behind the play of Mikayla Riley and Nadia Norfleet, the Lady Wave held off Horn Lake 58-51 in the Quarterfinal Round of the MHSAA Girls Class 6A playoffs at Mississippi Valley State on Friday afternoon.

Tupelo (25-3) will face the Biloxi-Northwest Rankin winner at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

MORE: Updated MHSAA Girls Basketball Playoff Brackets

This will be the first time since 2007 that the Lady Wave made it to the Mississippi Coliseum.

“I was proud of our team of being able to fight through adversity. We a lot of adversity throughout the game and the girls found a way to win,” said Tupelo coach Matt Justice. “We knew it was going to be a four quarter game and whoever was going to make more plays was going to win.”

The first half was back and forth.

The Lady Eagles and Lady Wave were tied 16-16 at the end of the first quarter.

With Horn Lake leading 26-21 with just over three minutes left in the second quarter Tupelo would go on a 12-0 run to take a 33-26 lead with 1:43 left.

The Lady Wave headed into the half halftime holding a slim 33-31 advantage.

Midway through the third quarter, Horn Lake went on a 8-2 run to pull ahead 40-38, but Tupelo responded with a 10-2 run to end the quarter to take a 48-44 lead.

Horn Lake pulled within one point, at 50-49 with six minutes left, but Tupelo never trailed in the fourth quarter.

With 1:21 left, Norfleet hit a lay-up to give the Lady Wave a 55-51 lead. Riley followed with a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left to seal the win.

“Just so proud of my girls for stepping up, especially the seniors making big plays in the fourth quarter,” Justice said. “Our seniors have worked really hard to get to this point to get over the hump and get to the coliseum.”

Riley had 19 points to lead Tupelo, while Norfleet added 15 points for the Lady Wave.

“We had to fight for four quarters and had to rebound and defend well in the fourth quarter,” Riley said. “Point guard did a good job of distributing the ball, and we did a good job of getting second chance points.”

SE Missouri State signee Indiya Bowen had a game-high 29 points to lead Horn Lake (21-8).

“We missed a lot of free throws and a lot of lay-ups,” said Horn Lake coach Darryl Partee. “Give Tupelo credit, they took advantage of those and we didn’t play well.”