Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Division-leading Wildcats pump win streak to 12 straight with 76-41 bashing of Bears; Lady Wildcats suffer 74-65 setback

    POPLARVILLE — The MACJC South Division-leading Pearl River Wildcats pumped their winning streak to 12 here Thursday in Shivers Gymnasium with a dominating 76-41 bashing of Southwest Mississippi.
    PRCC’s women, on the other hand, suffered a 74-65 division setback to the Lady Bears.
    The Wildcats improved to 18-4 overall and 8-2 in division play, while the Lady ‘Cats are now 7-14 and 1-9. SMCC’s men fell to 3-14 and 3-7, while its women are now 12-5 and 7-3 — third-best in the South women’s derby.
    Pearl River’s men sport a half-game lead over Jones County (8-3) for first place in the division, while the Bobcats are a a half game up on third-place Hinds (7-3) which recorded a 94-92 victory over JCJC Thursday. Mississippi Gulf Coast (6-5) is fourth.
    The top four men’s and women’s finishers in the MACJC North and South division earn berths in Feb. 22-25's state tournament to be played at East Mississippi in Scooba — the North men’s champion.
    East Miss’ men (9-1) has already clinched the North crown and is followed by Itawamba (7-4), Holmes, Northeast Mississippi, and Northwest Mississippi (all 5-5), and Mississippi Delta (4-5).
    Northwest Mississippi’s Lady Rangers (9-2) lead the women’s North Division race, followed by Itawamba (8-3), Mississippi Delta (7-3), and East Mississippi (6-4). In the women’s South, nationally-ranked Copiah-Lincoln (10-0) lead the way, followed by Jones County (8-3), Southwest Mississippi, Mississippi Gulf Coast (4-7), and East Central (4-6).
    In Thursday’s men’s game against Southwest, the Wildcats jumped out to a 22-9 lead midway in the first half. The Bears managed a 7-0 scoring run to cut PRCC’s lead to seven, but that was as close as they would get.
    Emil Jones of North Forrest hit a bucket with 6:35 left before the break to kick off an 11-5 Wildcat run the rest of the way to put The River up 31-21 at the break.
    In the second half, PRCC held SMCC scoreless for the first five minutes with a 13-0 scoring surge to build its lead to 23 — 44-21 — then finished the game with a 32-20 run to take the 76-41 victory. LaKendrick Maye of Prentiss High slammed one home in the final seconds for the final points to give the Wildcats a 35-point advantage and their largest lead of the game.
    Phillip Malone led the Bears with a game-high 17 points (three steals), while D.J. Lewis added seven, Chris London (five rebounds) and Mitch Thompson, four each; Derrick Harris three, and Chad Jones (five rebounds), Blake Rhodus, and Antoine Tucker, two each.
    Rod Little of Moss Point paced Pearl River with 15 points (five rebounds), while Phillip Crawford of Mobile, Ala., added 13; Kegan Houston of Quitman High, Maye, and Kenderek Washington of Hinds AHS (game-high nine rebounds), eight a piece; Jones seven (six rebounds), Denzel McDaniel of Mobile, Ala., and Desmond Ratliff of Canton High (six rebounds), four each; Tre Brown of Ocean Springs High three, El’Regious Stubbs of Pearl High and Zach Vickers of Laurel Hill, Fla., two each; and Mykael Keeler of Oak Grove High (five rebounds) and John Walker of Bassfield High, one each.
    SMCC hit a dismal 26 percent (13 of 50) from the field to PRCC’s 25-of-57 (43.9 percent) effort, while the Bears were equally as bad from three-point range at 10 percent (two of 20). The Wildcats hit 45.5 percent (five of 11) of their trey attempts. From the foul line, Southwest was 13 of 21 (61.9 percent), while Pearl River was 21 of 26 (75 percent).
    The Wildcats dominated the boards, hauling in 52 rebounds (25 offensive, 27 defensive) to the Bears’ 27 (15 offensive, 12 defensive).
    Pearl River defeated Southwest 64-60 in a previous meeting played Jan. 19 in Summit.
    In the women’s game, the Lady Wildcats led 16-5 at the midway point of the first half, but the Lady Bears quickly bounced back with an impressive 16-3 run over the next three minutes to take the lead for good.
    Ta’Keya Felder hit one of her four treys in the game to put SMCC up 21-19. Her basket kicked off a 10-0 scoring surge to put the Lady Bears up by 12 with two minutes left before the intermission. PRCC outscored SMCC 7-6 the rest of the way, but Southwest led by 11 — 37-26 — at the half.
    The Lady Bears opened the second half with a 13-4 run to pump their lead to 50-30 — their largest of the game — in the first four minutes The River outscored Southwest 33-24 the rest of the way.
    Felder paced SMCC with a game-high 18 points (four treys, five rebounds), while Octavia Bearden added 13 (eight rebounds), Deriree Dotey 11, Alisha Rayborn eight (six rebounds, three steals), Brittany Patterson six, Kierra Addison and LaTonia Anthony, four each; Iviel Stuart three, Courtney Carruth, Haley Cumberland, and Tessa Trippi, two a piece; and Kacey Eiphage one.
    For Pearl River, Kenyatta Epps of Yazoo City led the way with 17 points, including five three-pointers; while Charlene Green of South Pike added 16, including four treys. Nicole Holder of Lumberton High scored 13, Courtney Lacoste of Hancock County a season-high 10 points and a season and game-high 10 rebounds, Brittany Weathers of Oak Grove High seven (five rebounds), and Sam Fairley of Hattiesburg High two. Shundrea Windham of Laurel High hauled in five boards.
    Southwest was 31 of 69 (44.9 percent) from the field to Pearl River’s 22-of-52 (42.3 percent) effort, while the Lady Bears were six of 20 (30 percent) from three-point range to the Lady Wildcats’ impressive 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) showing. At the foul line, SMCC was six of 10 (60 percent), while PRCC was 11 of 14 (78.6 percent).
    Southwest’s women defeated Pearl River 75-53 in a previous meeting played Jan. 19 in Summit.
    PRCC play host to MACJC South Division rival East Central Monday at 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men) in Shivers Gymnasium, then wrap up their 2009-2010 regular-season schedule Thursday, Feb. 18, against division foe Copiah-Lincoln in Wesson at 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men).