By TAYLOR DENMAN

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Natchez High School girls basketball has depth.

Head coach Alphaka Moore’s squad is being recognized for that depth. When she coaches the Mississippi North-South All-Star Game in March, she’ll have her junior guard Kirdis Clark running the point.

As district tournaments and South State seeding is decided in the coming weeks, Clark said her selection to the team was something she knew she was capable of at the beginning of the season, but it was still unexpected.

“It came as a bonus,” Clark said. “It surprised me.”

In her two seasons at Natchez High School, Clark has served as a member of two state championship teams. Moore is in her fourth season as Natchez High’s head coach with a group of players that buy into her coaching philosophy that took a season to pull together.

Only one season.

“It’s been crazy to be honest,” Moore said. “When I came in they really had to trust somebody they didn’t know who was super young and was saying, ‘We’re going to win state.’ They trusted me and a couple years later, we have a championship every year except the one.”

Clark is on a big stage, the state’s best junior players are selected for the tournament in plain sight for college recruiters.

Clark isn’t making any decisions regarding where she’ll play her college basketball just yet. She’s happy where she is now — one of the key pieces of a team at the top of its region, heading into the region tournament next week.

Clark’s teammate, Ernesha Chatman, said the biggest thing she brings to Natchez’s squad is her energy.

“When she goes, she goes,” Chatman said. “Defensive part I’d say she gets down to it.”

Moore has been able to watch Clark since before she could every play for the Natchez High Lady Eagles. The Bulldogs’ head coach saw Clark anxious to play as an eighth grader when she was the team’s water girl. Now Clark is one of the team’s best scorers.

“Kirdis has always been the baby,” Moore said. “I could tell she was itching to play. She’s growing and opportunities are coming out of the woodworks for her.”

Clark is a prolific scorer for Natchez High School. Moore said she averages approximately 22 points per game this season and four assists per game.

Natchez will play its final regular season game on Friday against Jim Hill High School. February is the time when teams competing for championships start firing on all cylinders.

Clark said it’s impossible for her team to be perfect, but its strong unity is the most critical part of future success.

“We have to play as a team in order for us to keep going further,” she said. “All of us have to show up and not be unwilling to sacrifice ourselves for the team.”