Natchez sweeps Lawrence Co.
Published 11:00 am Thursday, February 13, 2014
NATCHEZ – Natchez swept Lawrence County in high school basketball action Tuesday night at Natchez high school. The Natchez Lady Bulldogs handled Lawrence County by a 62-22 score in the girls’ game. The boys’ game didn’t go any better for Lawrence County, as Natchez rolled to a 91-40 win.
Lawrence County made the long trip to Purvis on Monday night, making up a pair of Division 7-4A games that were postponed by the snow and ice of two weeks ago. Seemingly just hours later, the Cougars and Lady Cougars were making an even longer drive to Natchez.
Even in the NBA, when a team plays road games on consecutive nights, it almost always loses the second game. At Natchez, the LCHS weren’t just going up against a tough scheduling quirk, they faced very tough Natchez teams. The results were predictable.
Vicki Rutland’s girls found the going tough from the very beginning. LCHS trailed 21-3 after one quarter, and 33-10 at the half. It never got any better.
Keyana Jones led the 19-1 Lady Bulldogs with 14 points. Zya Ewing added 13. The Lady Cougars got eight points from senior Shayla Kees. LCHS was charged with 31 turnovers in the 32-minute game. The Lady Cougars fell to 9-20 with the loss.
In the boys’ game, Pat Bridges’ Cougars were fairly competitive in the first half, trailing 30-15 at the intermission. In the second half, however, despite substituting liberally, Mike Martin’s Bulldogs exploded for a whopping 61 points.
De’Arius Griffin hit five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 28 points. Joel Bacon came off the bench in the fourth quarter to hit five 3-pointers of his own. Natchez improved to 14-8 with the win.
Lawrence County was led by Keith Davis, who scored 11 points. Freshman Myron Moore made his varsity debut with nine points. Gabriel Lewis added six points and six rebounds. The Cougars, who were playing without banged-up freshman standout Keyshawn Feazell, fell to 10-17 with the loss.
Lawrence County will close out regular season and division play Friday night at home, taking on North Pike.