JACKSON — January 28th was a day Brookhaven Academy Cougar fanshad been waiting on with much anticipation. Friday night broughtabout the rematch between the Brookhaven Academy and Jackson Prepgirls.

Cougar fans watched the two teams meet in John R. Gray Gymnasiumon Nov. 30, only to witness a disappointing, 56-53 overtime upsetfor their Lady Cougars at the hands of the Lady Patriots.Brookhaven saw a 51-game win streak snapped, and lost for the firsttime since January of 1999 on their home floor.

But the rematch of the two teams proved to be quite satisfyingfor the Lady Cougars. A standing-room-only crowd saw Brookhavenwhip the Lady Patriots 39-22 in a defensive struggle to improve to27-1 on the season.

Kelli Byrd scored nine points, pulled down four rebounds anddished out three assists to lead Brookhaven over the very athleticLady Patriots. Lauren Smith, Kristian Davidson, Mallory Logan, andEmily Langley each scored seven points to aid Byrd as they avengedtheir only defeat of the season. Logan also collected five reboundsand had 7 assists.

“I really didn’t know what to expect tonight after practice thisweek,” said Brookhaven coach Barry Gray. “Usually when we play ateam like Prep, we spend two or three days of practice preparingfor them. This week however, we didn’t prepare for them at all. Wejust worked on our team because I felt like we weren’t playing withany level of intensity.”

After a slow first quarter that ended with Brookhaven holding aslim 7-6 lead, the Lady Cougars came alive, outscoring Prep 16-3 inthe second frame to take a 23-9 lead into the locker rooms.

“Our half-court defense was excellent,” added Gray. “We shot theball well as a team and showed that intensity we had before.”

BA senior guard Lauren Smith said the Lady Cougars were focusedon the task at hand. “We knew we could beat Prep. It just took usmaking up our mind to do it. We knew it would be tough playing uphere, but we played as a team and decided we weren’t going tolose.”

Ana Lampton scored nine points to lead the Lady Patriots. MacyBaird followed with five points.

Brookhaven 69 Jackson Prep 57

In the varsity boys game, Jeremy Winborne pumped in 20 pointsand grabbed four rebounds to lead the Cougars to a tough 69-57victory over the Patriots. Cole Hodges added 15 points and T-boyLynch scored 13 in support of Winborne. Hodges also pulled downseven rebounds. Lynch had four assists, five steals and fiverebounds.

“We really showed a lot of composure in the third quarter,” saidBrookhaven coach Dale Watts. “They came out and took a lead on usbut we made a couple of changes and were able to take the leadback.”

Brookhaven led Prep 35-31 going into the intermission but Prepcame out on fire in the third quarter, briefly taking a 41-37 leadwith 3:26 remaining.

Brookhaven responded, scoring 10 of the last 11 points to take a47-42 advantage into the final frame.

“Coach Watts told us we had to turn up the intensity and lookfor the open man to win,” said Winborne. “There were a couple oftimes where we seemed to slack off a bit but we stepped it up andcame back.”

Daniel Luter scored 22 points to lead Jackson Prep. David Yergerfollowed with 17 points.