The Enterprise Yellow Jackets split their final home game of the regular season recently with their Region 8-1A rivals from Lumberton.

In the opening girls’ game, Lumberton remained perfect in division play with a 52-38 win over the Lady Jackets. EAC got some revenge in the finale as the Enterprise boys held out for a 48-43 win over the visiting Panthers.

Shane Adams coaches both Enterprise basketball teams and the Yellow Jackets are in Region 8-1A this year after moving down from the 2A ranks during the MHSAA reclassification process.

Enterprise, Lumberton, Resurrection Catholic, Richton and Salem make up the region on the boys’ side of things. The girls’ region is smaller by one team as Resurrection Catholic did not field a girls’ basketball team this season.

The Enterprise girls’ team currently sits in second place in the region as they picked up a forfeit win over Salem and a 29-25 win at home against Richton thus far in the division.

The regular season finale for Enterprise is set for Feb. 4 at Salem.

Freshman Katelynn Malone is leading the team with a 9.4 points-per-game average. Senior Natalie Harris is chipping in 8.9 points per game and junior point guard Hannah Jergins is adding 8.3 points per game for EAC.

Jergins is dishing out 4.3 assists per game while senior center Alexandra McGee is pulling down a team-best 7.2 rebounds per game.

Jergins scored 12 points in the loss to Lumberton while Harris added 10 points. McGee and Malone added seven points each while sophomore Ainslee Jergins added two points.

The Lady Jackets (9-6) will automatically move on to the first round of the MHSAA 1A playoffs as they’ll finish as one of the top four teams in the region, regardless of what happens in the remainder of the regular season or at the region tournament.

The region tournament for Region 8-1A will be hosted by Salem Attendance Center. First round games are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Feb. 8. The semifinals are slated for Thursday, Feb. 10 and the consolation and championship games are going to take place on Friday, Feb. 11.

Region 8 matches up with Region 7-1A in the opening round of the playoffs. Members of Region 7 include Taylorsville, Bay Springs, Mount Olive, Piney Woods and the Mississippi School for the Deaf.

The Bay Springs boys’ team (14-2) and girls’ team (10-3) are both the division leaders in Region 7.

Junior guard Payne Waldrop dropped 23 points for Enterprise in the win over Lumberton. Waldrop went 5-of-8 for the 3-point line in the victory. Lumberton had picked up a 41-38 win when the teams first met on Jan. 4.

EAC tangled with Resurrection on the road Tuesday and the Eagles grabbed a 62-47 win in Pascagoula.

Senior Taylor Pressley, senior Brayden Polk and freshman Landon McNickles scored 13 points each in the loss at Resurrection.

Polk also had 10 points in the win against Lumberton while Presley had eight and senior Tre Baker scored five pints. McNickles rounded out the scoring against Lumberton with two points for EAC.

Polk leads the team with an 11.8 points per game averages. Presley is averaging 9.9 points per game while Waldrop and McNickles are adding 7.6 ppg and 7.3 ppg, respectively.

Resurrection leads the region boys’ standings at press time with a 5-0 record. The Eagles got a forfeit win over Salem earlier in the season when the Wildcats from Walthall were shut down due to COVID-19. Those teams are scheduled to meet on Feb. 1 at Salem.