January 8, 2008

Lady Tide rallies to beat Poplarville 60-55 in OT

Maroon Tide stings Hornets 91-40

by Carey Meitzler

The Lady Tide fell behind early and chipped away at the Poplarville lead to finally force overtime where they prevailed

60-55 at Kelly Wise Memorial Gymnasium.

Poplarville jumped to an 11-1 lead before Monique Brown scored seven points in the last minute of the quarter to make

it 13-8. In the second quarter, the Lady Hornets were able to build a 12 point lead. Janea Wills sank two free throws

with :01 left to make the halftime score 29-19.

Picayune trailed 41-34 entering the fourth quarter. Autumn Jackson scored on a put back of a missed shot to cut it to 41-36.

Picayune cut it to 47-44 on Jones' three pointer with 4:19 left. Jones had a chance to tie the game with 2:24 left, but only

made one of two free throws leaving Picayune down 49-48. After a layup by Poplarville's Polica Travis, Jones scored, was

fouled, but missed the free throw to make it 51-50 with :40 left. Daiquiri Raine scored for Poplarville for a 53-50 lead

with :27 left. Picayune called a timeout with :18 left to setup a play.

Brown took a pass deep in the left corner and drilled a three pointer to tie the game at 53-53 with :13 left. After a Lady

Hornet timeout, Poplarville was unable to score and the game went to overtime.

Ebony Jones (left) and Karly Moran bring the ball up the court.

In overtime, Karly Moran hit two free throws and Poplarville countered with a short jumper by Raine to tie it at 55-55.

Karly Moran put Picayune up 57-55 with a short jumper with 2:40 left. Lauren Burks hit one of two free throws with

1:29 left and Brown scored on a short jumper with :22 left to give Picayune the 60-55 win.

Brown tallied 19 points and Jones finished with 12 points. Autumn Jackson had 11 points and 6 rebounds for

Picayune (11-7, 2-3).

Travis lead Poplarville with 15 points and Raine had 12 points. Demi Beason added 10 points for Poplarville (6-9, 2-2).

Maroon Tide 91 Poplarville 40

Picayune to jump out to an early lead and coasted to a 91-40 win over Poplarville.

The Maroon Tide got 17 first half points from Reshun Smith and 11 from David McClain that enabled Picayune to build a

61-24 lead.

Smith finished with 21 points including two three pointers. Justin Smith added 17 points and Brandon Fortenberry had

15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and handed out 7 assists. McClain's 11 points included three 3-pointers. Travis Aubin

had 11 points and 4 steals.

Poplarville (2-12, 0-4) got 17 points apiece from Justin Raine and Lavelle Henry.

Picayune (16-3, 6-0) will travel to Pearl River Central on Friday.

Reshun Smith (left) and Travis Aubin apply pressure to Poplarville's Nick Peters.

Brandon Fortenberry scores on a layup as Lloyd Hall (20) and Ben Daly (44) look on.

Brandon Fortenberry races up the court against Poplarville.