Road weary with bloodshot eyes and occasionally dribbling fromthe mouth, it was clearly evident that this basketball fan had madetoo many trips to Jackson and witnessed too many games over thepast two months. A slight rage filled his emotions when he spied awoman wearing a black and white-striped dress. It brought backmemories of bad calls (in his opinion) by the zebras or refereesagainst his favorite team.

High school basketball season tipped off in early November asthe height of the football-fever state playoffs arrived. Itdribbled on and on through December, January, February and intoMarch.

Don’t forget March Madness and the NCAA Tournaments are rightaround the corner.

In the meantime, spring sports have been battling heavy rain andcold spells since January. It has been a difficult two months forcoaches trying to get their softball, baseball, tennis, track andgolf teams ready for spring.

Finally, at long last the sun is shining again. For a period oftime, coaches were seriously considering a change towater-resistant uniforms. Some of their players were starting togrow gills because it had been so wet on the playing surface.

Let’s pause for a moment and congratulate the West Lincoln LadyBears for their march to the Class 1A State Tournament. It had beenfive years since their last appearance and they managed an openinground win over Houlka last week.

A quick and talented McAdams team brought West Lincoln’s seasonto an end in the semifinals. This scribe won’t be surprised ifMcAdams beats West Lowndes for the championship Saturday inJackson’s Mississippi Coliseum.

The Lady Bears (26-6), coached by Lane Young,can sit back and enjoy their memories in a season that saw themwinning their first division/district title in 20 years. The futurelooks bright because four starters will be returning plus somepromising reserves.

Still basking in the glow of their MPSA Overall Tournamentchampionship, Coach Barry Gray’s BrookhavenAcademy Lady Cougars joined an elite group by going undefeated in43 games. They’ll add another banner to the rafters in John R. GrayGymnasium to commemorate the special achievement. They also won athird straight Class AA state title en route to the Overallcrown.

Certainly, Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum is a greatlocation for the Overall tourney. It seats 3,800 folks and it’s agenuine basketball atmosphere with seating on three sides of theplaying surface.

By comparison, the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson has a larger(9,500) capacity but it is more suited for rodeos and tractorpulls. The new seating on both ends of the court have made it morecozy.

As many as 70,000 fans were predicted to attend the 2-week statetournament. A Friday night sellout for the Class 4A game, featuringCapital City powers Lanier and Provine, is a definitepossibility.

A crowd estimated at 6,000 witnessed last Saturday night’s Class3A semifinals, featuring the Choctaw Central and North Pike girlsand the Prentiss/Byhalia boys. Choctaw Central brought about 3,000Lady Warrior fans, most of them from the Philadelphia area. At $10a ticket, the gate receipts quickly climb to six digits.

Prentiss All-American Al Jefferson attracted acurious crowd who had read and heard of his exploits. Jeffersonpoured in 56 points but Byhalia prevailed.

Looking ahead, Jefferson’s next stop could be the NBA. He was anearly signee with the University of Arkansas. Personally speaking,we believe Jefferson needs to go to college at least two years.Call it basic training. A tough, demanding coach with strictdiscipline, plus a rigorous conditioning and weight trainingprogram would do him a world of good.

Jefferson has the God-given ability to be an NBA lottery pick.Perhaps some fatherly coach will take him under his wing and helphim save that million-dollar plus signing bonus. Otherwise,Jefferson could get lost in the NBA shuffle and wind up broke aftera few years.

Changing sports, Brett Shufelt has been namedassistant football coach at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.Shufelt has a Ph.D in education leadership from Mississippi StateUniversity. He was a graduate assistant at MSU from 1995-97 and atNew Mexico State University from 1994-95.

Shufelt served as defensive coordinator at Western New Mexicofrom 1992-94. He replaces Paul Purvis as defensivecoordinator at Co-Lin. Purvis has resigned.

Certainly, Purvis will be missed. His defensive unit was one ofthe best in the conference. Unfortunately, the Wolves couldn’tproduce any offense most of the time.

Co-Lin’s new head coach, Glenn Davis, said heplans to hire another assistant coach in the near future. Davissaid Co-Lin’s tryout camp attracted over 60 hopefuls. He plans toinvite about a dozen back for preseason football practice inAugust.

Write to sports editor Tom Goetz at The DAILY LEADER, P.O.Box 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602 or by e-mailsports@dailyleader.com