River splits with Holmes

POPLARVILLE Pearl River Community College split with Holmes in MACJC non-division women and men basketball action here Thursday with the Lady Wildcats avenging an earlier road loss to the Lady Bulldogs with a 65-57 victory, while the Wildcat squad fell 63-52. The PRCC men team entered the game with only eight players on its roster, as seven players drew one-game suspensions due to curfew violations. PRCC women fell to HCC 66-59 in a previous meeting played Nov. 7 in Goodman, while its men fell 90-59 to the Bulldogs the same night. The Lady Wildcats improved to 3-2 overall, while the Wildcats dropped to 2-4. HCC women dropped to 3-2, while its men remain perfect at 5-0. In the women game, PRCC grabbed the lead off the contest opening basket by Daiquari Raine of Poplarville High and, with the exception of a 4-4 deadlock at the 16:25 mark, maintained that advantage for the next four-plus minutes until HCC Louise Collins hit a bucket to tie it up at 9-9. Jessica Miles basket with 10:35 left in the half gave the Lady Bulldogs a two-point edge and kicked off a 7-0 run to boost Holmes lead to 16-9 with 8:15 left before the break. Pearl River bounced back with a 9-2 scoring surge to tie its up at 18-18 when Samantha Gunn, a Velma Jackson High recruit from Canton, banged in a trey at the 6:01 mark. The score was tied two more times over the next two minutes before point guard Toy Johnson of Pascagoula High hit a basket off a turnover to put the Lady Wildcats up by two and The River maintained its lead until Collins hit a buzzer-beating bucket to knot things at 25-all at the intermission. After Stephanie Fratesi out of Washington High in Leland hit the opening basket of the second half to give PRCC a two-point edge, the score was tied twice over next four minutes. Shanta Echols of Sumrall High hit a basket at the 16:30 markto give the Lady Wildcats a 33-31 lead, but Kierra Gilmore answered with back-to-back three pointers to put the visitors up 37-33 and the Lady Bulldogs stayed on top over the next three-and-a-half minutes. Branita Malone out of Choctaw High in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., hit a basket with 10:59 left to put The River up 44-43 and the Lady Wildcats never looked back with Pearl River icing the victory with a dominating 23-14 scoring run from there on out. Collins paced Holmes with a game-high 18 points, while Dierra Gilmore added 16 (three treys), Kierra Gilmore 13 (five rebounds), Jessica Miles six, and Cierra Anderson four. Kierra Anderson had six rebounds, while Amber Clay hauled in five boards for the Lady Bulldogs. Echols led Pearl River with 16 points, while Gunn added 12 (two treys), Malone 10 (nine rebounds), Johnson eight (six rebounds, seven assists), Quentessa Bullock of East Marion High (three steals) and Raine (six rebounds), six each; Fratesi four (four rebounds), and Kyiana Allen, a Southern Shreveport CC transfer from Ruston, La., three (four rebounds). Pearl River hit 65 percent (13 of 20) from the free throw line to Holmes 58.8 percent (10 of 17), while the Lady Wildcats were 25 of 56 (44.6 percent) from the field to the Lady Bulldogs 21-of-56 (37.5 percent) effort. From three-point range, PRCC was two of nine (22.2 percent), while HCC was five of 21 (23.8 percent). Holmes had the edge in rebounding with 37 (14 offensive, 23 defensive) to The River 36 (12 offensive, 24 defensive). The Lady Dawgs committed 18 turnovers in the game to the Lady Cats 15. In the men game, the Wildcats were held scoreless for the first two-and-a-half minutes, while the Bulldogs built their lead to 11 20-9 midway in the first half. At that point, Pearl River put together a 7-3 run to cut Holmes lead to 23-16 before Marcus Harper hit a trey with 8:00 left before the break to kick off a 10-3 scoring surge to give the Bulldogs its largest lead of the first half 14 points at 33-19 at the 1:35 mark. Yondarius Johnson, a Grambling State (La.) transfer from Plain Dealing, La., hit the final basket of the half to make it 33-21 at the intermission. After HCC rebuilt its lead to 14 in the opening minutes of the second half, Johnson pulled off a three-point play with 17:25 left to kick off an impressive 22-13 Wildcat run to cut the Bulldogs lead to 45-43 with 8:03 left before Holmes answered with a 16-11 scoring surge to end the game. Demarcus Lewis led HCC with 17 points (four rebounds), while Torrance Rowe added 16 (three treys), Deangleo Porter nine (seven rebounds), Emmanuel Dias eight (11 rebounds), Shelton Willis five, Marcus Harper and Daveon Slaughter, three each; and Deandre Scott two. Johnson paced PRCC with a career-high 18 (four rebounds), while Zane Knowles, another Grambling State transfer from Nassau, Bahamas, added a career-high 16 (13 rebounds, three steals), Raheem England of Decatur (Ala.) High and Andre McMorris of East Marion High, seven each; and Daron Bell of Bay High four. Pearl River hit 55 percent (11 of 20) from the free throw line to Holmes 77.3 percent (17 of 22), while the Wildcats were 20 of 57 (35.1 percent) from the field to the Bulldogs 20-of-48 (41.7 percent) effort. From three-point range, PRCC was one of 14 (7.1 percent) and HCC was six of 18 (33.3 percent). Holmes led on the boards with 41 rebounds (11 offensive, 30 defensive) to The River 31 (13 offensive, 18 defensive), while the Bulldogs committed 13 turnovers to the Wildcats 10. After a week-long Thanksgiving holiday, Pearl River returns to action Tuesday, Nov. 29, when Baton Rouge (La.) CC visits Shivers Gymnasium in Poplarville for 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men) games, before PRCC eyes a road trip to Delgado (La.) CC in New Orleans Thursday, Dec. 1, with contests at the same game times.

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.