Malden girls basketball secures fourth straight conference win, beats South Pemiscot 58-26

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
South Pemiscot's Aliyah Taylor (11) and Malden's Madison Saulsbery (24) eye a rebound in a varsity girls basketball game at Malden Thursday night.

MALDEN, Mo. - The success continued for the Malden Green Wave varsity girls basketball team in Bootheel Conference play Thursday night.

Malden improved to 4-1 in regular-season conference play as it beat the visiting South Pemiscot Bulldogs 58-26.

“Every game our defense should set the tone for our offense,” Malden coach Josh Herring said. “We really did a good job of moving tonight. We got some deflections and steals. Rebounding could have been a little bit better but I’ll take the result either way.”

Malden, which allowed just three field goals in the first half, outscored South Pemiscot in every quarter. The Green Wave led 13-5 after one quarter, increased its lead to 29-10 by halftime, and led 43-21 at the end of the third quarter on its way to a 32-point win.

Four Malden players recorded at least eight points. Senior Madison Mittag led all scorers with 21 points. Arionne Ross added 11 points, Deniya McCaskill tallied nine points, and Jada Townsend scored eight points for the Green Wave.

“They are starting to understand how to run the offense,” Herring said. “We’ve got rid of the me ball and started using a we ball. That’s really helped us out.”

Mya Starks also scored in double digits for South Pemiscot with 11 points.

The Green Wave (5-8) have won four straight conference games after dropping its conference opener on the road to Holcomb 40-35. on Dec. 9. Malden beat Hayti 58-51 Dec. 12, beat Caruthersville 62-53 Jan. 6, and beat Senath-Hornersville 62-53 Tuesday night.

“If you keep working on the process and make sure you improve every game the wins will eventually come,” Herring said. “I think our work in practice is starting to pay off in game situations this month.”

Malden remains in second place in the Bootheel Conference standings with two conference games remaining. Malden closes out conference play at Portageville Jan. 23 and at Campbell Jan. 27 before it begins play in the Bootheel Conference Tournament at South Pemiscot on Feb. 1.

Holcomb is currently in first place in the conference standings at 4-0.

“Every game is a very tough game no matter what,” Herring said. “So we’ve just got to keep grinding and doing the right things for ourselves. It’s not so much focussing on what the other teams around us are doing. We just need to focus on what we do. If we can do our things right and run our system the right way the wins will continue to come.”

Malden 58, South Pemiscot 26

SPS 5 5 11 5 - 26

MHS 13 16 14 15 - 58

SOUTH PEMISCOT (26) - Darcey Morton 2, Hadley Hoskins 2, Miya Starks 11, Aliyah Taylor 3, Lauren Jones 2, Mckenzie Jordan 6. FG 9, FT 7/18, F 13. (3-pointers: Jordan 1; Fouled out: Hoskins).

MALDEN (58) - Makinley Walker 2, Madison Mittag 21, Jada Townsend 8, Arionne Ross 11, Brydon Maddox 2, Deniya McCaskill 9, Madison Saulsbery 5. FG 21, FT 15/25, F 18. (3-pointers: McCaskill 1; Fouled out: None).

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Malden's Madison Mittag eyes a shot in a varsity girls basketball game against South Pemiscot at Malden Thursday night.