Piney Woods brought its international boys basketball team toLoyd Star Tuesday night and posted a lopsided 70-44 victory overthe Hornets, led by Allen Aragbaye’s 14 points.

In the varsity girls game, Loyd Star defeated Piney Woods 43-37as Shara Johnson scored 17 points and Hailey Ratcliff 14 inDivision 6-2A action..

Loyd Star resumes play Friday, visiting McLaurin for a divisiontest.

The Hornets (12-5, 0-4) played hard against atalented Piney Woods team, according to Loyd Star coach Gene”Moochie” Britt. “We played hard tonight and our players did theirbest. Piney Woods hurt us with their press throughout the game.

“Piney Woods has the best players recruited which makes them avery good team.”

The Tornadoes (13-4, 4-0) have players from South Africa,France, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. on their roster. AbdullahBounce, from Paris, had 11 points.

Loyd Star was led by freshman Drew Case with 18 points andsophomore Dwayne Branning with 12. The Hornets trailed Piney Woods33-14 at halftime.

“We did what we needed to do to win,” said PW coach Wayne Brent.”But I don’t think we played very well.”

Five rebounds by Brent Fells and 4 by Tyler Williford led LoydStar on the backboards.

The Lady Hornets (10-7, 2-2) overcame a rash ofturnovers and a 26-26 third quarter deadlock to beat Piney Woods(9-5, 4-1). Johnson, a senior guard, had a solid, all-around game,accounting for 11 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists.

“We had many unforced turnovers,” said Loyd Star girls coachLori Britt. “We worked hard to come back and get a districtwin.”

The Lady Tornadoes battled to a 20-20 halftime deadlock. Theywere led by Ashley Williams with 10 points and 7 rebounds. ZalikaWilliams had 6 rebounds.

Junior Varsity Game

In the JV boys game, Loyd Star edged Piney Woods 62-61 inovertime, sparked by Matthew Henderson’s 20 points. Randy Fells andAdam Case followed with 10 points each. Donovan Case and StevenWatts both had 6 points. Cayce Falvey had 5.

Piney Woods was led by Robert Jackson’s 38 points. James Barneshad 13 points and Bernard Stokes 10.