River splits with Co-Lin

POPLARVILLE Pearl River Community College split with Copiah-Lincoln in MACJC women and men South Division basketball action here Monday with the Lady Wildcats falling 67-55, while the Wildcat squad took an 82-73 victory over the Wolfpack.PRCC women dropped to 11-6 overall and 4-3 in division play, while its men improved to 9-8 and 5-2. CLCC women, on the other hand, are now 15-3 and perfect in league play at 8-0, while its men are now 8-11 and 3-5.In the women contest, the score was tied four times and the lead exchanged hands four times in the first eight minutes of the first half. Jeronda Beason of Poplarville High sank a foul shot to snap the last stalemate and put the Lady Wildcats up 13-12. PRCC held on to the lead for the next five minutes, but Keosha Bradley sank a pair of free throws at the 7:04 mark to make it 20-19 Co-Lin. That kicked off a 12-6 scoring run to give the Lady Wolfpack a 32-27 advantage at the intermission.Three minutes into the second half, Samantha Gunn, a Canton native who prepped at Velma Jackson High, pulled off a three-point play to give The River its last lead of the contest at 35-34, but two minutes later Jasmine Belton bucket off a PRCC turnover made it 40-39 CLCC and the Lady Wolves never looked back.Co-Lin iced the game with a 27-16 run the rest of the way.Bradley paced Co-Lin with a game-high 25 points (four treys, five rebounds, three assists, two steals), while Jasmine James added 14 (five rebounds), Belton 10, Lavasha Allen, Vintrice Briggs, Tiffany Sims (two steals), and Alexus Stirgus, four a piece; and Jessica Jackson two. Chanta Poole had eight boards and three assists for the Lady Wolves.Shanta Echols of Sumrall High (six rebounds) and Samantha Gunn, a Canton native who prepped at Velma Jackson High (four rebounds), led Pearl River with 12 points each; while Branita Malone out of Choctaw (Fla.) High in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., added 11 (six rebounds), Toy Johnson of Pascagoula High (seven rebounds, five assists, two steals) and Shana Ward (four rebounds), an East Central CC transfer from Carthage, four each; Jeronda Beason and Daiquari Raine (four rebounds), both out of Poplarville High, three each; Alayna Bridges of Oak Grove High, Chaquita McGee of Yazoo City High, and Lolecia Richardson out of Provine High in Jackson, two a piece.Copiah-Lincoln hit 78.6 percent (11 of 14) from the free throw line to Pearl River 69.2 percent (18 of 26), while the Lady Wolves were 44.1 percent (26 of 59) from the field to the Lady Wildcats 40 percent (18 of 45) effort. From three-point range, CLCC was four of 17 (23.5 percent), while PRCC was one of eight (12.5 percent).Both teams finished with 33 rebounds with Co-Lin grabbing 11 offensive and 12 defensive boards. Pearl River snatched nine offensive and 24 defensive boards. CLCC committed 16 turnovers to PRCC 22.Bradley paced the Lady Wolves with a game-high 25 points (four treys, five rebounds, three assists, two steals), while Jasmine James added 14 (five rebounds), Belton 10, Lavasha Allen, Vintrice Briggs, Tiffany Sims (two steals), and Alexus Stirgus, four a piece; and Jessica Jackson two. Chanta Poole hauled in eight boards and dished out three assists for the Co-Lin women.In the men game, Pearl River never trailed, out scoring the Wolfpack 44-31 in the first half and 42-38 in the second.Copiah-Lincoln kept it close in the second half, cutting the Wildcats lead to one 60-59 with 7:45 left, but PRCC answered with a 22-14 scoring run the rest of the way to take the nine-point victory.Jay Case led the Wolfpack with 20 points (three treys), while Anthony Davis added 17 (three treys, five steals, four rebounds), Jake Reed 14, Joseph Cunningham 11 (three steals), Maurice Williams five, Ledarius Davis three, Mike Buffalo two, and Fred Fairman one.Zane Knowles, a Grambling State (La.) transfer from Nassau, Bahamas, paced The River with a game-high 23 points (six rebounds); while Yondarius Johnson, a Grambling transfer from Plain Dealing, La., added 17 points (three treys, nine rebounds). Josh Carpenter of Oak Grove High scored 14, including a six-for-six effort at the foul line and a four-for-four effort from the field, while Quentin Watkins out of Lanier High in Jackson scored 10 (four assists), Daron Bell of Bay High five (six rebounds), Jyrus Carriere out of St. Martin High in Biloxi and Mike Henry of Wayne County High, four each; Derionne Stewart of Picayune High three, and Jeremy Moore out of Jim Hill High in Jackson two.Copiah-Lincoln hit 66.7 percent (10 of 15) from the free throw line to Pearl River 80.8 percent (21 of 26), while the Wolves were 44.3 percent (27 of 61) from the field to the Wildcats 68.3 percent (28 of 41) effort. From three-point range, CLCC was nine of 21 (42.9 percent), while PRCC was an amazing five of six (83.3 percent).The River dominated the boards with 35 rebounds (seven offensive, 28 defensive) to Co-Lin 18 (10 offensive, eight defensive), while the Wildcats committed 19 turnovers to the Wolfpack 10.Pearl River split with Copiah-Lincoln in previous women and men meetings played Dec. 5 in Wesson with the PRCC women losing 59-53 and the PRCC men winning 58-57. Both Dec. 5 games were the division openers for both schools.The River travels to MACJC South Division rival Southwest Mississippi in Summit Thursday for 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men) games before hosting South Division foe Hinds Monday, Feb. 13, for contests at the same game times in Shivers Gymnasium in Poplarville.