The West Lincoln Bears and the Bogue Chitto Bobcats kicked offthe opening round of the Lincoln County Round-Robin BasketballTournament Thursday night at the Loyd Star Gymnasium.

The Lady Bears crushed the Lady Bobcats 37-14 while the WestLincoln boys knocked off Bogue Chitto 48-32.

The Lincoln County tourney continues tonight and Saturday atLoyd Star.

West Lincoln 37, Bogue Chitto 14

The Bogue Chitto girls (6-4) struggled the entire game and neverscored more than five points in one quarter.

“We played poorly on offense,” said Bogue Chitto first-yearcoach Christi Terrell after the game. “We didn’t execute. Wecouldn’t get our shots to fall. We didn’t take control of theboards.”

West Lincoln (6-3) led 10-3 in the first quarter. Both teamsstruggled in the second quarter as the Lady Bobcats outscored theLady Bears 4-3 to cut the deficit to 13-7 at the half. West Lincolnreturned to its old form in the third quarter going on a 15-2 runon Bogue Chitto to carry a 28-9 lead into the final frame.

“It was a sloppy game,” stated West Lincoln coach Lane Young.”Our press defense was really good. We rebounded the ball prettygood.”

Monica Price powered the Lady Bears with 11 points and grabbedseven rebounds. Alicia Kennedy netted 10 points and led off thebackboards with 15 rebounds. Lauren Smith followed with eightpoints, five rebounds and four steals.

Bogue Chitto got four points and seven rebounds from TaneshaJohnson. Collecting eight rebounds was Kimberlee Thomas followed byMeleah Brown with six rebounds.

West Lincoln 48, Bogue Chitto 32

The Bobcats came after the Bears in the first quarter for abrief 8-5 lead. In the second quarter, West Lincoln began to setits own tempo and went on an 11-4 run to take a 16-12 lead in atthe half.

“We didn’t play real aggressive at the start of the game,” saidYoung. “Our defense was fairly decent. Bogue Chitto ran theiroffense. Coach (Todd) Wilson did a good job.”

The Bears (5-4) were playing without starting senior guard TylerSmith who suffered an ankle injury last Tuesday night.

The Bears outscored the Bobcats 15-9 in the third quarter tocarry a 31-19 lead into the final frame.

Kevin King pumped in a game-high 19 points and grabbed fiverebounds for the Bears. Shane Lynch fired in 12 points, grabbedfive rebounds and made four steals. Jeremy Byrd blocked threeshots.

Keyonna Perkins sparked Bogue Chitto with 16 points.