MONTICELLO – Lawrence County and Crystal Springs split a high school basketball double-header Friday night at LCHS.

In girls’ action, Lawrence County dominated Crystal Springs, 41-16.

In the boys’ game, Crystal Springs jumped out to a big early lead and held off a furious Cougar rally to record a 52-48 win.

The girls’ game was never in doubt. Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars led 14-4 after one quarter and stretched that lead throughout the game despite substituting liberally. All 15 LCHS players who dressed saw considerable playing time.

DeNeisha Dickson led the Lady Cougars with 12 points. Camryn Davis added six points and a game-high seven rebounds. Zipporah Baylis had four steals, and Kyla Holloway pulled down five rebounds. Jonkyah Johnson led Crystal Springs with five points.

The win was the fourth straight for the Lawrence County girls, who improved to 7-5 with the win.

“Our offensive execution was pretty good,” Vicki Rutland said, “no matter what lineup we had in the game. We’re coming together offensively, and we always get good effort defensively. It was good to play well at home. Most of our best games have been on the road so far.”

In the boys’ game, Broderick Owens’ Tigers jumped on Lawrence County in the first half rolling to a 31-18 halftime lead. The homestanding Cougars gave it a much better fight in the second half. Still, Crystal Springs led 42-29 entering the fourth quarter.

Lawrence County cut the Tiger’s lead to 10 points at 36-26 with two minutes left in the game. A spirited effort in the waning moments got the Cougars close, though the four-point margin of defeat is a bit deceiving. LCHS scored the final six points of the game on two Phillip Moore three-pointers. The final one fell through the net just as the buzzer sounded. Poor free throw shooting hurt Lawrence County, which converted just three of nine in the fourth quarter, and eight of 21 in the game.

Moore led the Cougars with 16 points and four steals. Keith Davis added 13 points, and Lane Rutland had seven. Keyshawn Feazell led Lawrence County in rebounding with eight.

The Cougars fell to 8-3 with the loss.

Zavion King led Crystal Springs with 14 points. He was joined in double figures by Zyn Bayless and Jeriko Morris, who each tallied 12. The Tigers improved to 6-5 with the loss.

Lawrence County will return to action at the Bay High tournament in Bay St. Louis on Dec. 29 and 30.