MONTICELLO – Lawrence County and South Pike split a Region 7-4A basketball doubleheader Friday night. In girls’ play, Janice Felder’s Lady Eagles beat Lawrence County, 69-56. In boys’ action, Pat Bridges’ Cougars started the second half on an 18-0 run, and blew out the Eagles, 83-52.

The girls’ game pitted a South Pike team that still has hopes of winning the region regular season title, against a Lawrence County team that is hoping to garner the number three seed in the upcoming 7-4A tournament.

The teams were knotted at 21-21 midway through the second quarter, but South Pike took over the game by finishing the half on an 18-7 run. Twice in the second half, the Lady Cougars were able to pull to within 5 points, but that’s as close as they ever got.

“I was totally pleased with our effort and desire to get it done,” said Lady Cougar coach Vicki Rutland, “but there’s a reason South Pike has such a great record. They’re a very good team, and Coach Felder does a great job. We played as hard as we could. We just got beat.”

Jamaya Carter led South Pike an extremely balanced South Pike scoring attack with 15 points. Akayla Powell and Tremayia Weatherspoon each added 11. Destiny Gordon had 10, and Breyuana Goode scored 9, as the Lady Eagles improved to 19-6 overall, and 7-1 in the division.

Brittany McDuffey almost single-handedly kept Lawrence County in the game in the second half. She led all scorers with 26 points, 19 of them coming after the intermission. Dakendra Collins added 8 points. The Lady Cougars fell to 11-11 overall, and 4-4 in division play.

LCHS 83, South Pike 52

In the boys’ game, Lawrence County carved out a 31-18 halftime lead, then put the game away by starting the second half with an 18-0 run. There was very little drama left after that.

Brandon Daniels led the Cougars with 21 points. All 10 LCHS players who dressed got into the scoring column. Phillip Moore netted double figures with 11. Anson Fox had 9, while J.P. Pendleton and Keith Davis each added 8. The Cougars improved to 12-10 and 4-4 with the win.

Joe Taylor’s Eagles fell to 5-20 and 1-7 with the loss. Desmond Cook had a good shooting night, hitting three 3-pointers en route to a 15-point evening. Stephen Coleman and Jarod Green added 10 points each.

Lawrence County traveled to Bay Springs for non-division action on Saturday night. Results were not available at press time.

The Cougars and Lady Cougars will resume 7-4A action at Purvis on Tuesday. South Pike will host North Pike on Tuesday.