MONTICELLO-Lawrence County swept a Division 7-4A basketball double-header from Columbia in high school basketball action Friday night, at LCHS. First, Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars jumped out to a first quarter lead and never looked back in a 64-49 win over the Columbia Lady Wildcats. Later, in the boys’ game, Pat Bridges’ Cougars dominated the second half in a 58-37 win over the Wildcats.

In girls’ action, Lawrence County led 15-6 after one quarter, and slowly grew that lead throughout the night. Rutland substituted liberally, with 17 Lawrence County players seeing action in the contest.

Deneisha Dickson led LCHS with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Haven Johnson added 15 points and 3 assists.

“I thought this was an important win for us,” Rutland said. “Obviously, it’s important because it kept us in the division race. But, more than that, we needed to have some success. We lost two tough games last week, and we had a game snowed out on Tuesday, so it had been two weeks since we’d won a game.

“I thought our girls did a really good job tonight. A lot of players contributed in a lot of ways. We’re still very much a work in progress, but that stiff competition we played in non-division is paying off for us.”

Rutland’s girls improved to 7-18 overall, and 4-2 in Division 7-4A play. The win over Columbia completed a season sweep of the Lady Wildcats.

Kija Weary led Columbia with 18 points. Kierra Oatis added 13, and Asia Montgomery netted double figures with 11.

The boys’ game was a close, low-scoring battle for most of the night. Columbia led 25-24 midway through the third quarter, when Lawrence County freshman Keyshawn Feazell nailed back-to-back 3-pointers. Suddenly, LCHS had a 30-25 lead, and the Cougars never looked back. Lawrence County put the game away by outscoring Columbia 21-4 in the fourth quarter.

The win pushed Lawrence County’s record to 5-1 going into a Tuesday battle at top-ranked McComb. The Cougars are 9-13 overall.

“We had a good night,” Pat Bridges said. “We struggled offensively in the early part of the game, but we finished really well. I liked the balance we had on offense, and I thought, for the most part, we competed well on defense.”

Gaylon Pittman had 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead LCHS. Feazell had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Keith Davis added 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocked shots. Gabriel Lewis and Phillip Moore each scored 9 points, and led the Cougars in assists.

Lonnie Bass and Johnauh Myers each scored 10 points to lead Columbia. The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats are both coached by former Hattiesburg High coach Yama Jones.

Lawrence County will resume Division 7-4A play at McComb on Tuesday night.