BRANDON – The turnover bug continues to plague the BrookhavenHigh girls basketball team. The Lady Panthers committed 34turnovers and eventually fell to the Madison Central Lady Jags47-23 in the semifinals of the Brandon Tournament, last night.

A steal and lay-up by senior guard Matt Fitzsimmons as timeexpired enabled the Brookhaven Panthers to sneak away with ahard-fought 69-67 win over the Provine Rams at the BrandonTournament.

The Lady Panthers and Panthers received first round-byes in the3-day affair.

The Lady Panther will play at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.Their opponent has yet to be determined. The Panthers will play thewinner of Terry/Northwest Rankin in the finals, Saturday evening at7:45 p.m.

The Lady Panthers (2-5) were unable to generate any offense lastnight. Brookhaven only totaled 7 offensive rebounds and shot only 1free throw.

“We have got to find a way to cut down on the turnovers,” saidBrookhaven head coach Ronald Gill following the game. “We didn’thit the offensive boards tonight.”

Madison Central, coached by Shay Jackson, did not shoot thelights either. The Lady Jags still managed leads of 9-7 after oneperiod and 21-11 going into the halftime locker room.

Jackson’s ballclub carried a 22-point lead, 38-16, into thefinal stanza.

Julianna Wallace paced Brookhaven with 8 points and 3 steals.Ayana Tillman pulled down 5 rebounds. Shameka Gilmore and 4rebounds.

Danielle Hoeffner led Madison Central with 13 points.

The Panthers (6-1) picked up another win, despite the Rams’efforts to see otherwise. Brookhaven trailed 17-14 at the end ofthe first quarter.

Provine, under the direction of Luther Riley, let their leadslip away to find themselves down 35-32 at the intermission. TheRams got scoring spurts from Davian Dixon and Torrey Ross to keepthe Jackson-based opposition in the game.

Ross led all scorers with 25 points.

Brookhaven head coach Preston Wilson and assistant Dan Presleysaw their ballclub entertain a 56-50 cushion entering the finalperiod, as senior center Corey Bryant posted 10 of his team-high 22points in the third.

Both teams battled throughout the evening, as neither could keepa lead larger than 8 points.

Bryant scored on a lay-up to tie the game at 67-67, with under10 seconds left on the clock. The Rams took possession of the ball,looking to score the potential game-winning basket.

Fitzsimmons’ basket ended all hopes of a Rams victory, and sentthe Panther fans into a frenzy, as the final horn sounded after thebasket.

“We played well tonight,” added Wilson.