Madison Central girls win thriller over Germantown

The Madison Central girls’ basketball team picked up a huge 60-57 region win over rival Germantown Tuesday night, using a go-ahead bucket from Shakyra Dixon in the final thirty seconds to secure the win.

It was a back and forth game throughout and was an absolute battle between two teams who needed a crucial region win. Germantown had a 30-29 lead at the halftime break, but Madison Central battled throughout and was able to string together some crucial bucks down the stretch to secure the win.

“I’m really proud of our team, we have a really young team and are starting two freshmen,” Madison Central Head Coach Jalessa Taylor said. “We really came together in this game, we fought, we executed the game plan and we never gave up.”

Both Germantown and Madison Central played an extremely up-tempo game in this one, but it seemed to play more into Madison Central’s strengths, especially late in the game. The Lady Jaguars used an aggressive full-court press and relentless defensive pressure throughout the game to force some key turnovers and secure the win.

“We really like to get up and down the floor and play an up-tempo game,” Taylor said. “We put a premium on our strength and conditioning and it shows in the game with the way we run. They slowed us down a little bit with their style of play and defensive zone, but we really picked it up after halftime and it allowed us to play to our strengths more.”

In the final quarter, when the game was coming down to the wire, Madison Central also had a number of huge offensive rebounds that created multiple easy opportunities inside when the Lady Jaguars needed buckets the most. 

“In the early part of the season, we weren’t rebounding very well, but we have really improved on that as the season has gone along,” Taylor said. “We tell our team all the time that it doesn’t take talent to rebound the ball, it’s all about heart and effort.”

Madison Central now sits at 2-1 in region, which is good for third place in the region standings, behind undefeated Tupelo and Starkville. The Lady Jaguars fell 61-45 at Tupelo earlier in the season, but now have momentum going into the rest of the region slate. 

“We talk to our team all the time about how wide open the district is,” Taylor said. “It’s really going to come down to who wants it every night and with our team being so young, we are trying to keep them focused on taking it one game at a time.”

Madison Central will have a chance to move up in the region standings on Friday night against Starkville, who is currently 3-0 in region play. 

As for Germantown, the Lady Mavericks fall to 0-3 in region play, with all three of those losses coming by single digits. Even with a winless start, there are plenty of positive takeaways and opportunities for Germantown going forward. 

Madison Central will host Starkville Friday night, while Germantown will host Tupelo on Friday for each team’s next matchup.