January 29, 2008

Maroon Tide rolls on with 75-53 win over Blue Devils

Lady Tide falls 55-51 to Pearl River Central

by Carey Meitzler

Picayune pushed their record to an overall mark of 23-3 and finished Region 8-4A with a perfect 12-0 mark by upending Pearl

River Central 75-53 at Kelly Wise Memorial Gymnasium.

The Maroon Tide lead 19-4 after one quarter and 37-22 at the half.  The Blue Devils rallied to cut the lead to 43-35 with 2:25

left in the third quarter, but Picayune's Brandon Fortenberry  hit a three pointer, scored on an assist from Chris "Scooter" Dees,

and then Dees scored himself to push the lead back to 50-35 with :55 left and Picayune coasted the rest of the way.

Fortenberry had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals and  Dees added 19 points, 5 caroms, and 2 steals to pace

the Maroon Tide.

For Pearl River Central, Josh Nixon had 12 points, Cody Ladner finished with 11 points, and Landon Russ added 10 points.

Pearl River Central  55   Lady Tide 51

For the second time in Region 8-4A play, PRC defeated Picayune 55-51.

Picayune jumped to an early 11-3 lead before PRC closed the gap to 13-11 at the end of the quarter.  With the score tied at

22-22 , PRC's Kayla Drummond went to the free throw line on three consecutive possessions and made all six free throws

for a 28-22 lead.  Picayune got a short jumper from Andrea Jackson with :17 left to make the half time score 28-24.

Picayune rallied to take the lead and was up 38-35 with 1:47 left in the quarter on a short jumper by Karly Moran.  But

the Blue Devils regained the on a buzzer beater by Drummond for a 39-38 lead.

Pearl River Central pushed the lead to 46-39 with 5:11 left on a basket by Brooke Eccles.  Picayune rallied and regained

the lead at 49-48 on a driving lay up by Ebony Jones with 2:20 left.  However, a costly turnover on an inbound pass and

clutch free throw shooting by Drummond and Eccles enabled the Blue Devils to hold on down the stetch.  Drummond

hit two free throws with :25 left for a 53-49 lead and Eccles iced the game with two free throws with :04 left.

Monique Brown scored 23 points, Moran had 13 points, and Jones added 11 points for Picayune (11-12, 2-8).

Pearl River Central (6-15, 2-4) was lead by Drummond's 18 points, Megan Calcoate had 12 points (10 in the first half),

and Eccles finished with 11 points.