River splits at Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, La. Pearl River Community College split in NJCAA intra-state women and men basketball action here Thursday against Baton Rouge CC with the Lady Wildcats opening their season with a 70-46 loss, while the Wildcats took an 80-68 victory for their second win of the year. PRCC women are now 0-1 overall, while its men are 2-0.BRCC women are 1-0 and its men are 0-1. In the women game, the Lady Cats scored 23 points in each of the halves with the host Lady Bears leading 31-23 at the intermission before scoring 39 points in the second half. Tyeka Ranton paced BRCC with a game-high 23 points, while Dominque Shelmire added 17, Naketa Roberts and Quitesha Scott, nine each; Chassity Smith four, and Courtney Chargois, Jean Spears, Jessica St. Cyr, and Kelli York, two a piece. For Pearl River, Quentessa Bullock of East Marion High led with 11 points, while Charlene Grene out of South Pike High in Magnolia scored eight, Alayna Bridges of Oak Grove High and Kenyatta Epps of Yazoo City High, seven each; Francheska Bowman out of Choctaw High in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and Toy Johnson of Pascagoula High, three each; and Samantha Gunn out of Velma Jackson High in Canton, Branita Malone, another Choctaw High (Fla.) recruit, Keair Watts of East Marion High, and Eugena Fry out of Wingfield High in Jackson, two a piece. The Lady Wildcats shot a dismal 35.6 percent (16 of 45) from the field to the Lady Bears 50 percent (25 of 50), while Pearl River was three of 13 (23.1 percent) from three-point range to Baton Rouge two-of-five effort. At the foul line, PRCC was 11 of 50 (55 percent) to BRCC 18 of 23 (78.3 percent). In men action, the two teams battled to a 37-37 stalemate at the half, but the Wildcats bounced back with a dominating 43-31 advantage in the second half to take the 12-point victory. For the Bears, Ryan Layssard led the way with 13 points, while Torrey Dixon was close behind with 12. Xavier Blackburn scored 11, Jeremy Ferguson nine, Rarlensee Nelson six, Derrick Gardner and Jacoby Ross, five each; Demetri Bill four, and Phillip Bickham three. Daron Bell of Bay High paced the Wildcats with a game and season-high 24 points, including four three pointers; while Emil Jones of North Forrest High and Nick Magee of Columbia High added 17 each with Magee bucketing five treys. LaKendrick Maye of Prentiss High scored seven, LaBaron McMillian of Pascagoula High five, Pedro Maciel of St.Stanislaus Prep four, Kentari Nettles out of LeFlore High in Mobile, Ala., three; and Phillip Crawford out of Murphy High in Mobile, Vincent Gable of Picayune High, and Marshun McGee out of Bailey High in Jackson, one a piece. Crawford led Pearl River on the boards with seven rebounds. From the field, PRCC hit 60.9 percent (28 of 46) to BRCC47.7 percent (21 of 44), while the Wildcats were impressive three-point range with a 57.9 percentile (11 of 19) to the Bears 38.9 percent (seven of 18). At the free-throw line, Pearl River was 13 of 24 (54.2 percent), while Baton Rouge was 19 of 32 (59.4 percent). PRCC men, the defending MACJC state champions, opened their season Monday with a 116-75 rout over Southern Sports Academy, while BRCC Thursday contest was its season opener. The River women and men return home Monday to host MACJC non-division rival Holmes at 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men), then the Wildcats travel to New Orleans, La., to take on the Loyola University junior varsity Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game. PRCC hosts non-division foe Mississippi Delta Monday, Nov. 15, at 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men).