PURVIS-Lawrence County swept a Division 7-4A basketball double-header from Purvis Tuesday night, at Purvis High School. In girls’ play, Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars rode a big second quarter to a 35-27 win. In boys’ action, Pat Bridges’ Cougars survived a 47-point onslaught by Purvis’ David Davis, beating the Tornadoes 75-66.

In the girls’ game, defense dominated. Lawrence County led 21-11 at halftime, and led throughout the second half, despite scoring just three field goals in the final two quarters. The Lady Cougars shot just 23 percent from the floor, and made only 1 of 10 three-point attempts.

DeNeisha Dickson led Lawrence County with 10 points and 8 rebounds. Jada McDuffey added 8 points. Camryn Davis led LCHS in rebounding with 9. McDuffey, and Zipporah Baylis each pulled down 5 rebounds.

“We had a tough night shooting the basketball,” said Vicki Rutland, “but our defensive effort made up for that. Any division road win is a good win. Purvis plays very hard.”

The Lady Cougars improved to 12-10 overall, and 3-3 in Division 7-4A play. Purvis, coached by veteran womens’ college coach John Ishee, fell to 7-15 overall, and 0-6 in the division. Purvis was led by senior point guard Samantha Sattler, who scored 15 of the Lady Tornadoes’ 27 points.

The boys’ game was a one-on-one matchup. That is, it was a matchup of one team against one dominant player. The team won out. Lawrence County placed four players in double figures and shot a sizzling 63 percent from the floor. It took all of that to offset the huge night delivered by one of Mississippi’s leading scorers.

Purvis senior David Davis hit 9 three-pointers en route to a 47-point night. As always, Davis put on quite a show. That said, only three Purvis players scored in the game. Even Davis couldn’t keep up with the Cougars’ team effort.

Keith Davis led Lawrence County with 25 points and 9 rebounds. Gabriel Lewis hit 5 of 10 three-pointers in tallying 17 points. Keyshawn Feazell was an inside force, with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Perhaps the best night of all belonged to Phillip Moore. Moore scored 13 points, but was responsible for many more than that, as he handed out 11 assists. Moore also had 5 steals.

“Davis is really tough to deal with,” said Cougar coach Pat Bridges. “Obviously, we hoped to hold him under 47. But I thought our guys executed really well on the offensive end. We handled their pressure, and that set us up for a lot of quality shots.”

The game was a battle for second place in the Division 7-4A standings, as LCHS entered with a one-game lead over Purvis in the race for the coveted number two seed in the division tournament. Lawrence County improved to 14-8 overall, and 5-1 in the division. Purvis fell to 11-11 overall, and 3-3 in division play.

Lawrence County will travel to Columbia on Friday.