CLINTON - Defense and rebounding.
Most basketball coaches will tell you those are the keys to winning championships.
The Lady Mustangs of Pillow Academy dominated in both those phases of the game - leading to a blowout of Delta Academy.
PA outrebounded the Lady Raiders 43-17 and held them to just 30 percent shooting from the field en route to a 54-41win Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the MAIS Overall Tournament at Mississippi College's A.E. Wood Coliseum.
"Our half-court defense has been our strength this year, and I thought we did a pretty good job defending (Tuesday)," PA coach Durwin Carpenter said. "I felt coming in that we should be able to win on the boards with our size advantage."
The Lady Mustangs (22-11), the class AAA runners-up, advance to the semifinals of Overall, which features the top top three teams from all three private school classifications. They will play at 2:15 p.m. Friday against the winner of tonight's Leake-Jackson Academy contest.
Delta, the A champion, finishes the season at 35-5.
This is Pillow's 13th trip to Overall in Carpenter's 16 years with the Lady Mustangs, who failed to qualify for the MAIS's most prestigious tournament last year. After missing out last season, Carpenter said his girls came in determined to make a serious run at adding to PA's record six Overall championships.
"Our girls expect to be here every year. Not making it last year was a big disappointment because we felt like we had a team to make a run here," said Carpenter, who has won three Overall titles at Pillow (1997, 1998 and 2005). "They were determined to get back and make a good showing."
However, just making it to Overall might have seemed like a long shot early in the season when the young Lady Mustangs got off to a shaky 5-5 start that included five straight losses - the first coming by 10 points to Delta on Nov. 17.
Carpenter credits his two seniors, Mary Langdon Gallagher and August Malouf, for playing key roles in the turnaround.
"Our seniors just took over the team and did a great job with their leadership, bringing every one together fighting for a common goal," said the PA coach. "Also,we've started taking a little better care of the basketball and not making so many turnovers. Turnovers usually lead to easy baskets on the other end."
On Tuesday, the Lady Mustangs did have 20 turnovers, compared to just 11 for Delta, but overcame that with their distinct advantage on the boards and by hitting 23 of 47 shots (49 percent) from the field. Thanks to 15 offensive rebounds, the Lady Mustangs finished with 15 second-chance points - compared to just two for Delta.
Malouf got Pillow off to a quick start, hitting a 3-pointer on the opening possession of the game and then getting a 3-point play a few minutes later to put the Lady Mustangs up 9-2. Devin Mitchell had a bucket in the paint to put PA up 17-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Pillow opened the scoring in the second period on a putback by backup guard Holland Falls on one of her five rebounds. The Lady Mustangs pushed their lead to 14, 29-15, at the 1:40 mark on another basket down low by Mitchell.
Holly Ann Pannell had a layup with 44 seconds left on an inbounds play underneath the PA basket to give the Lady Mustangs a 31-18 halftime lead.
Pannell, a junior do-it-all guard, finished with a game-high 18 points. She also had five rebounds and two assists.Sophomore center Dasha Tsema had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Gallagher had five points and six boards, while Kristen Stephens added five and three assists.
The closest Delta got in the second half was 8, 40-32, following a 3-pointer by Shelby Taylor in the final minute of the third period. Pannell responded with a layup in the final seconds to put her team up 10 heading into the fourth quarter.
Pillow put the game away by scoring the first seven points of the final period. Gallagher had a basket, followed by a 3-point play from Stephens and a layup by Pannell - pushing PA's lead to 49-32 with 21/2 minutes remaining.
Taylor finished with a team-high 15 points for Delta.
She was 4-of-10 from 3-point range.
