Heading into district play, the Poplarville girls basketball team is working on giving well rounded performances.

The team started district play on Dec. 10 with a game against the Sumrall Bobcats.

Poplarville was competitive throughout the game, but turnovers and poor free throw shooting led to the Bobcats winning 46-41.

The team shot 11-27 from the stripe, which is crucial in close games like the one Poplarville had against Sumrall.

Tytiana Buckley scored 14 points to lead the Hornets and Deanna Freeman also contributed seven points and five rebounds in just 19 minutes.

Turnovers have been an issue for the Hornets all season and it was again during the game against Sumrall.

Head Coach Robin Jeffries said the turnovers were due in part to bad passing, which she plans to remedy by implementing more passing drills during practice.

“I can understand a turnover if you’re attempting to do something, but these are just not catching the ball,” Jeffries said.

The team has been hit with multiple injuries this season, which has led to changed line ups and rotations as Jeffries adapts to players missing court time.

This has led to more young players on the floor and the constant shifting of who is available has affected on-court chemistry.

Inexperience can lead to inconsistency so Jeffries is trying to help her team gain more time on the floor.

“We don’t have a lot of experience on the court and the less you stay consistent the worse off we are. Until you can create consistency the flow isn’t going to be there,” Jeffries said.

A game against Lumberton set for Dec. 13 was canceled, which means the players will have 10 days in between games.

Poplarville will take part in a Vancleave tournament on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21.

The first day will have Poplarville take on Hancock at 3:30 p.m., while the second day will see Poplarville face off against D’Iberville at 12 p.m.

Jeffries said the 10-day gap will allow her players to focus on the basics of basketball and get things cleaned up before facing Hancock.

As the young players get more minutes on the floor the hope is the number of mistakes will decrease.

“We’re going to kind of break it down and work hard on fundamentals. Hone in on what we do best, drill it and then closer to game time we’ll work on more offense and defense,” Jeffries said.

Following the tournament the players will have three days off sandwiched before Christmas Day before hitting the grind once again in preparation for a Jan. 3 game against Forrest County.