Byrd, Harris power BHS girls; Panthers tumble
Published 6:00 am Monday, February 12, 2007
McCOMB — The Brookhaven Lady Panthers completed their perfectrun through Division 6-4A Friday night with a convincing 58-29doubling of the McComb Lady Tigers. The McComb Tigers would realizethe split with a hard-fought 66-56 win over the BrookhavenPanthers.
The Division 6-4A tournament begins Monday and continues throughFriday at Florence. The Lady Panthers (No. 1 seed) received afirst-round bye, and await the Mendenhall (4)-Terry (5) winnerThursday at 4 p.m. The Panthers (No. 5 seed) meet Lawrence County(No. 4 seed) Tuesday night at 7.
Brookhaven 58, McComb 29
The Lady Panthers (25-5, 12-0) completed the sweep of theirdivision opponents in fine fashion. Ole Brook got off to a slowstart, leading 10-9 heading into the second quarter. Head CoachFreda Craft’s team missed numerous outside shot
In the second frame, Craft’s crew began to drain the open shots.Senior guard Kayla Harris would sack 5 treys in the period,finishing the game with 15 points, 6 assists and 2 steals as herteammates led 36-16 at the intermission break.
The second half belonged to the Brookhaven inside game. TheDandy Dozen twin tower duo of Swayze Black (8) and Nikki Byrd (12)would combine for 20 points and 17 rebounds. Byrd led all scorerswith 18 points, 14 rebounds and 2 steals. Black had 10 points.Monte’ Wilson dished out 4 assists and took 3 charges. JermeciaJones and Whitley Shannon each had 2 assists.
Brookhaven held a 41-31 edge in rebounding; while scoring 20points off of 20 McComb turnovers. The Lady Panthers shot 51percent (19 of 37) from the field, and 50 percent (2 of 4) from thecharity stripe.
McComb did not fare as well, shooting 28 percent from the field(9 of 32) and 39 percent (5 of 13) from the free throw line.
McComb 66, Brookhaven 55
The Tigers (25-5, 9-3) had a tough time with the Panthers(12-17, 4-8). In the earlier match-up 2 weeks ago, McComb blastedBrookhaven 72-48.
McComb head coach Hilton Harrell saw his ballclub get off to aslow start, by evidence of their slim 12-9 first-quarter cushion. Abalanced attack would forge the Tigers a 30-25 halftime lead.
Brookhaven, coached by Ronald Hines, trailed by as many as 13points in the second half. On several occasions, the Panthers hadcut their deficit down to 4 points.
But the senior duo of Roteddrick Cotton and Otis Smith proved tobe too much down the stretch. Smith sacked his 12 points in thesecond half, while Cotton scored 8 of his 14.
Lending support for McComb were Defreddrick White and AkeemWilliams with 14 points apiece. Williams had 5 rebounds and 2steals. White, Chris Anazia and Fred Harness each dished out 3assists.
Brookhaven got 14 points apiece from junior forwards CharlesRancifer and Simmie Yarborough. Donaldmetric Blue tossed in 11points. Rancifer grabbed 9 rebounds and Marcus Magee had 7.Rancifer also had 7 assists and 4 assists.
The Panthers outrebounded McComb 36-29. The Tigers had 10turnovers, while Brookhaven had 15. Both teams shot over 50 percentfrom the field.
Free throws proved to be the difference in the game. Ole Brookwas 7 of 16 (44 percent), while the Tiger were 22 of 29 (76percent).