BAY ST. LOUIS-The Lawrence County High School basketball teams had a tough time of it Monday in the Bay High Holiday Tournament, at Bay St. Louis. The Lady Cougars were victims of a poor start, while the LCHS boys suffered an incredibly bad finish. Both lost.

In girls’ action, Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars lost, 39-26, to Hancock County. Pat Bridges’ boys, in the final game of a long day of basketball, dropped a 54-41 decision to Pass Christian.

A sluggish start did the Lady Cougars in. Lawrence County was a step slow in the first half as Hancock County jumped to a 24-11 lead. A better second half effort kept things respectable, but the Lady Cougars’ hole was too deep.

“We played pretty well in the second half,” said Rutland. “We played faster and harder. But we had already dug ourselves too much of a hole to have a chance. We were sleep-walking through the first half.”

DeNeisha Dickson led LCHS with 10 points. Camryn Davis added 6 points and a game-high 9 rebounds. Chantel Richardson led Hancock with 11 points. The Lady Cougars fell to 7-6 with the loss.

The Lawrence County boys played a fine 25 minutes. Unfortunately, high school basketball games are 32 minutes in length. The Cougars led for most of the night, and held a 36-30 lead through three quarters. When Agauris McLaurin nailed a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter, the Cougars had their biggest lead of the night, at 39-30.

Seconds later, Lawrence County’s Keith Davis scored to make it a 41-32 game, in favor of the Cougars. There was 7:12 left on the clock. LCHS would not score again. Pass Christian ended the game on a 22-0 run.

The main culprit was the Pirates’ Dashaun Singleton, who hit 3 three-pointers in rapid-fire succession. The stunned Cougars would not recover. Singleton scored 12 points in the game. Mark Williams led Pass with 13. The Pirates improved to 10-3 on the season.

Keith Davis led Lawrence County with 11 points and 5 rebounds. McLaurin added 8 points. Keyshawn Feazell had 7 points and 6 rebounds. Phillip Moore handed out 4 assists before fouling out of the game.

The Lady Cougars were slated to play D’Iberville in an early game on Tuesday. The LCHS boys will close out the two-day event against Biloxi in the late game.