Thursday night belonged to the home team inSinclair Gymnasium. Brookhaven’s Panthers and Lady Panthers postedtriumphs over South Pike in the Brookhaven Tournament as the girlswon 60-42 and boys romped 79-61.

    In yesterday’s early games, Lawrence County’s boys edged McComb64-60 and the McComb girls prevailed 50-43 over the LadyCougars.

    Tournament play resumes Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. with the WestLincoln girls versus Natchez. West Lincoln’s boys tackle Natchez at2:30, followed by the McComb versus South Pike girls at 4 and theboys at 5:30. In the final session, BHS plays the Lawrence Countygirls and boys at 7 and 8:30 p.m.

Brookhaven 60, South Pike42

    The Lady Panthers (4-1) got 18 points and 12 rebounds fromFredericka Fairman and 17 points from Tiakara Kelly as they handedSouth Pike (3-1) its first loss of the season. Christen Bensonchipped in 10 points and 6 rebounds. Ariel Owens snagged 8rebounds.

    “Our girls are playing with a lot of heart and they want to win,”said BHS coach Freda Craft. “We still have to work on correctingour mistakes.”

    Craft watched her team surge to a 31-15 halftime lead. The Panthersled by 19 points, 38-19, early in the third before South Pikepulled within 9  points ona corner jumper by Jamaya Carter.

    Point guard Akayla Powell and Carter each scored 16 points forCoach Janice Felder’s young team that has two seniors on thesquad.

Brookhaven 79, South Pike61

    Coach Preston Wilson was pleased with his Panthers (4-2)and theirperformance. “We kept our intensity up the whole game and we wereable to play our football guys.”

    Offensively, the Panthers got 12 points from Glenn Buie, 11 fromDennis Jordan and 10 from Alvin Franklin. A buzzer-beating, 30-foottrey by Franklin at the end of the third quarter gave BHS a14-point, 56-42 advantage.

    On the backboards, Ryan Thibodeaux grabbed 6 rebounds and scored 7points. Franklin had 5 rebounds.

    The Eagles (2-2) are not at full strength because several playersare on South Pike’s football team that competes in the Class 4ASouth State semifinals at Quitman tonight. Coach Joe Taylor’s squadgot a pair of strong performances from guards Deangelo Coleman andDquarias Bullock as they scored 30 and 25 points respectively.

    Bullock, a strong and quick senior guard with gold-tinted locks,pushed his team ahead 32-31 at the start of the second half but thePanthers responded with a 15-4 run and led 46-36.

Lawrence 64, McComb 60

    A 23-point by performance by David Haynes sparked the Cougars intheir comeback win against McComb. Brandon Daniels chipped in 18points and Juan Williams 12.

    The unbeaten Cougars (5-0), coached by Pat Bridges, trailed 47-44entering the fourth quarter.

    McComb got 17 points from Roy Bibbs and 15 from Devonte Evans whosacked 3 treys.

McComb 50, Lawrence 43

    Raneka Franklin’s 15 points sparked the Lady Tigers who erased a31-23 halftime deficit.

    Lawrence County got 14 points from Mary Margaret McLaurin, 13 fromTaylor Brister and 11 from Brittany McDuffey.

    Coach Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars are minus All-State guard TiariaGriffin who transferred to Hattiesburg late in the summer afterleading her team to the Class 4A state championship game lastseason. Griffin signed a scholarship with Georgia this week.