McCOMB — The Brookhaven Lady Panthers and the McComb Tigerswere crowned champions of the 2006 McComb Coca-Cola Classic Fridaynight, in McComb’s Tiger Den by virtue of their unblemished 3-0worksheets in the 3-day tournament.

The Lady Panthers smashed the Pine (La.) Lady Raiders 57-35 inthe final. The Tigers drilled the Brookhaven Panthers 76-55 in anon-division encounter.

In other tournament action, the Amite County Lady Trojans fellto the Scotlandville (La.) Lady Eagles 59-43. The Amite County boysdefeated Pine 62-59. The McComb Lady Tigers bounced back fromThursday’s loss with a 50-40 win over St. Helena, La.

Brookhaven returns to the basketball hardwood Jan. 9, at PortGibson for a Division 6-4A test.

Brookhaven 57, Pine (La.) 35

Teams have tried throughout the whole season to slow down theBrookhaven girls attack. For the most part, the strategy has notworked because head coach Freda Craft’s Lady Panthers continue topost wins (14-4).

Craft’s squad pitched a 14-0 shutout in the opening period, andled 25-11 at the halftime break. A balanced scoring attack was ledby junior center Nikki Byrd’s 15 points.

The Lady Raiders got a game-high 19 points from RicshandaBickham.

McComb 76, Brookhaven 35

The Panthers (10-8) kept pace with the home standing Tigersthroughout the first half. Ole Brook trailed 13-9 after one period,and 34-26 at the intermission. The trio of Charles Rancifer (10points), Simmie Yarborough (6) and Donaldmetric Blue (5) kept headcoach Ronald Hines’ ballclub close.

McComb head coach Hilton Harrell saw his team keep the firsthalf edge behind senior forward Roteddrick Cotton. Cotton, a 6-footlow post threat, registered 10 first-half points and 6rebounds.

Both teams combined for 9 turnovers and shot over 55 percentfrom the field.

What a difference a half makes as the Panthers were forced into14 second half turnovers. The Tigers would take advantage byscoring 22 points off of Ole Brook miscues.

The Tigers (17-1) caught fire behind senior Otis Smith, whosacked 10 of his 19 points in the second half. McComb outscoredBrookhaven 42-29 in the second half to win going away.

Rancifer led Hines’ squad with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5assists. Blue added 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. ThePanthers shot 42 percent (21 of 50) from the field, while theTigers hit on a 44 percent clip (21 of 48).

The difference in the game was at the charity stripe whereMcComb was 28 of 41 (68 percent). The Panthers were only 8 of 20(40 percent). Brookhaven was whistled for 26 fouls (15 in the firsthalf), while McComb was tagged for 19.

Cotton, who was named boys’ most valuable player in thetournament, paced the Tigers with 25 points and 8 rebounds. Smithand Akeem Williams each had 2 steals. Chris Anazia dished out 6assists.