The Brookhaven Academy Holiday Classic promises to provide somekeen basketball competition this week, especially in the girlsbracket. Brookhaven Academy is the defending champion but the LadyCougars should receive a strong challenge, especially from McCombParklane, Marvell, Ark., and undefeated Copiah Academy.

Although the CA Lady Colonels are dressed in red & blueuniforms, it isn’t a Supergirl outfit. They can’t leap tallbuildings in a single bound or run faster than a speeding bullet.But they are an outstanding team.

Ask Copiah Academy head coach Mitch Mitchell about his talentedsquad and he’ll provide some positive observations. “Our girls areplaying pretty good.” His Lady Colonels are 18-0.

The Lady Colonels have survived a few close calls this season.They went overtime once with Jackson Prep and played the LadyPatriots three times. They were one, two and three-point games.

In their latest test, the Lady Colonels beat Canton Academy byfour points, 49-45, last Thursday at Gallman.

For sure, the Lady Colonels are a veteran team. Copiah startsfour seniors: 5-7 guard Madeline Price, 5-2 point guard CandaceClayton, 5-9 post Bethany Harris and 5-7 post Nikki Duke. The otherstarter is 5-3 sophomore guard Carley Clayton, younger sister ofCandace.

Copiah goes eight and nine deep. Reserves are 5-8 junior forwardMarcy McDonald, 5-9 sophomore forward Jackie Stowe, 5-11 juniorpost Laura Stewart, and 5-9 junior guard Jessica Thornhill.

Last season the Lady Colonels finished 30-12. They were third inthe Class AAA State Tournament and lost in the first round ofOverall State. Indianola Academy won the AAA crown and Silliman,La. was runner-up.

“We full-court press a good bit and try to play pretty fast,”said Mitchell. “We’ve had a real good first semester.”

Mitchell also serves as high school principal and boysbasketball coach at Copiah. His boys are 4-9 on the season.

If the tournament format goes according to plan, Mitchell’sgirls could be playing Coach Barry Gray’s Brookhaven Academy LadyCougars in Saturday night’s 5:40 title game. The Lady Cougars are12-1 on the season, fresh from an overtime loss at Parklane.

However, strange things often happen during holiday tournaments,especially when the competition is strong.

“There’s some good teams in the tournament,” said Mitchell.”Marvell is strong and Parklane has a good team. Coach Gray alwayshas a good team.”

Mitchell is a 1982 graduate of Topeka-Tilton in rural LawrenceCounty. It was once recognized as a Class 1A basketball hotbed insouthwest Mississippi before consolidation.

Coach Gray’s Lady Cougars have done remarkably well, consideringthe loss of the top six players from last season’s 40-3 Class AAstate tournament runner-up squad. Senior post players Ancy Myersand Leah Davis and junior post Anna Gatlin have the most varsityexperience.

Newcomers Kelli Byrd, Lauren Smith, Mallory Logan and AbbyWilliams have shown a lot of maturity and basketball skills despitetheir youth.

Aw shucks. Last summer’s dreams of the public schools playingprivate schools in Lincoln County hasn’t materialized. TheBrookhaven Academy school board has been reluctant in grantingpermission for BA athletic teams to play public schools in anysport.

For that matter, BA could have invited some local public schoolsto play in the tournament. Consider either a West Lincoln-BA , aBogue Chitto-BA or an Enterprise-BA matchup. That kind of contestcertainly would have packed John R. Gray Gymnasium.

On the other hand, Parklane has publicly refused to step outsidethe MPSA to play any team, even in marbles or jacks. All MPSA teamsentered in the BA tourney would have to agree to play public schooltournament teams before participating. Maybe next year.

Jackson Prep and Jackson Academy have both played Jackson PublicSchool teams this basketball season and the results have beenencouraging. Prep also played George County in a late Augustfootball game at Prep which was the first-ever encounter betweenMississippi Private School Association and Mississippi High SchoolActivities Association members.

The Mississippi Association of Coaches began selecting All-StateFootball Teams for each classification a few years ago in an effortto give their players more recognition. Lincoln County was wellrepresented on the Class 2A dream team by Loyd Star defensive endAdam Speeg, running back Derrick Johnson and defensive tackle BeauMorrison.

Neighboring Wesson landed two players on the 2A team inlinebacker Billy Ray Miller and cornerback Richie Miller.

In Class 1A, Bogue Chitto was represented by big offensivetackle Ernie Johnston. Enterprise placed standout running backShermaine Vaughn on the team.

For sure, it was a great year for football in LincolnCounty.