River sweeps ''Cat Fight

POPLARVILLE Pearl River Community College swept arch-rival Jones County in women and men MACJC South Division basketball action here Monday in Shivers Gymnasium with the Lady Wildcats dominating the Lady Bobcats 78-55, while the Wildcats pulled out a 75-73 squeaker. With the lopsided victory, PRCC women improved to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in division play, while its men evened its overall mark at 7-7 and are now 3-1 in league play. JCJC women dropped to 9-5 and 3-1, while its men fell to 8-7 and 1-3. In the women game, Pearl River led for the first three minutes of the opening half before JCJC Terrenisha Hollis sank a basket to knot things at 8-8 at the 16:20 mark. The Lady Wildcats answered with a dominating offensive explosion, outscoring their visitors 38-17 to take a lopsided 46-25 lead at the intermission. The Lady Bobcats had pulled to within eight 26-17 at the 7:17 mark off a Hollis foul shot, but PRCC responded with a 20-7 run the rest of the way to grab its 21-point advantage at the break. In the second half, things didnt fair any better for Jones, as the Lady Wildcats built their lead to as many as 29 points their largest of the game at 71-42 with 5:38 remaining. From that point, JCJC outscored PRCC 13-7 the rest of the way only to come up 24 points shy of victory. Hollis paced the Lady Bobcats with a game-high 19 points (11 rebounds, three steals), while Alecia Autman added 16 (five rebounds), Lauren Douglas nine (two treys, three blocks), Kasey McKinney eight, and LaPorsche Jones three (four rebounds). Quentissa Bullock of East Marion High led Pearl River with 13 points (five rebounds), while Shanta Echols of Sumrall High scored 12, Toy Johnson of Pascagoula High 10 (13 assists, seven rebounds, three steals), Shana Ward, and East Central CC transfer from Carthage, nine (four steals); Branita Malone out of Choctaw High in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., eight (seven rebounds), Samantha Gunn, a Canton resident who prepped at Velma Jackson High, seven (four rebounds); Chaquita McGee of Yazoo City High and Daiquari Raine of Poplarville High (eight rebounds), six each; Alayna Bridges of Oak Grove High four, Lolecia Richardson out of Provine High in Jackson two, and Kyiana Allen, a Southern Shreveport CC transfer from Ruston, La., one. Jones County hit 48.4 percent (15 of 31) from the free throw line to Pearl River 70 percent (14 of 20), while the Lady Bobcats hit 35.8 percent (19 of 53) from the field to the Lady Wildcats 45.6 percent (31 of 56) effort. From three-point range, JCJC was two of 11 (18.2 percent), while PRCC was two of eight (25 percent). The River dominated the boards with 50 rebounds (21 offensive, 29 defensive) to Jones 32 (12 offensive, 20 defensive), while each team committed 24 turnovers on the night. In the men game, the score was tied twice in the opening minute-and-a-half, but Josh Carpenter of Oak Grove High pulled off a three-point play at the 18:20 mark of the first half to grab a 7-4 edge and the Wildcats never looked back. PRCC built its lead to 10 points twice before the break both off scores by center Zane Knowles, a Grambling State (La.) transfer from Nassau, Bahamas. After Knowles foul shot made it 27-17 with 4:45 remaining, Jones County answered with a 12-7 scoring run to cut The River lead to 34-29 at the break. The Wildcats rebuilt a double-digit lead just under five minutes into the second half via a three-point play by Knowles to make it 44-33, while point guard Quentin Watkins out of Lanier High in Jackson sank a pair of free throws with 9:04 left to give The River its largest lead of the game at 57-44. The Bobcats responded with a 29-18 run the rest of the way, pulling to within two three times in the final 1:21. Dontavious Lewis banged in back-to-back three pointers to make it 73-71 before Carpenter scored PRCC final points off a pair of foul shots with nine seconds left. Lewis sank the final basket with less than two seconds left. Donta Pittman paced Jones with a game-high 19 points (two treys, four rebounds), while Lewis added 12 (three treys), Detrick Davis (six rebounds) and Courtney Mack (10 rebounds), nine each; Tim Allen and J.J. Bolton (two treys), eight each; Kelvin Nixon five, Anthony Wilson two, and Emmanuel Davis one. Knowles led PRCC with 16 (six rebounds, three blocked shots), while Carpenter added 14, Watkins 13, Yondarius Johnson, a Grambling State transfer from Plain Dealing, La., 12; Daron Bell of Bay High 11 (eight rebounds, three assists), Raheem England of Decatur (Ala.) High four (eight rebounds, three assists), Daterris Rogers of Wayne County High three, and Mike Henry of Wayne County High two. Jones County hit 48.5 percent (16 of 33) from the free throw line to Pearl River 76.1 percent (35 of 46), while the Bobcats hit 43.1 percent (25 of 58) from the field to the Wildcats 43.2 percent (19 of 44) effort. From three-point range, JCJC was seven of 18 (38.9 percent), while PRCC was two of five (40 percent). The Bobcats led on the boards with 41 rebounds (19 offensive, 22 defensive) to The River 33 (10 offensive, 23 defensive), while Jones committed 17 turnovers to Pearl River 16. PRCC eyes rematches with JCJC Thursday, Feb. 16, in Ellisville. The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats return to action when they host South Division arch-rival Mississippi Gulf Coast Thursday at 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men), then eye a division road trip to East Central in Decatur Monday, Jan. 30, with games set for 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men).

Each community college president is asked to bring two (2) wrapped door prizes, minimum value of $50 each. We will have a station set up at the conference for you to drop off the door prizes.

Each community college is asked to provide name tags for their Board members, administration, and staff attending the conference.