Maroon Tide pulls away from Hornets 61-42;

Lady Tide falls 59-42

by Carey Meitzler

Poplarville--The Maroon Tide jumped out early and pulled away from the homestanding Hornets 61-42 at Poplarville while the

Lady Tide came up short against the Lady Hornets 59-42.

In the girls game, Picayune trailed 28-20 at the half and cut the lead to 28-26 on a 3 pointer by Ebony Jones with 6:46 left in the

third quarter, but that's as close as the Lady Tide would get as Poplarville pushed the lead back to 46-36 at the end of the quarter.

Picayune was led by Janaea Wills with 19 points while Autumn Jackson, Karly Moran, and Ebony Jones each had 7 points

for Picayune (0-18, 0-5).

Janaea Wills (34) led the Lady Tide with 19 points.                  Lauren Burks (40) shoots at the end of the third quarter.

Ebony Jones (20) gets ready to shoot.

Maroon Tide 61  Hornets 42

The Maroon Tide (18-2, 5-1) got 10 points from Brandon Fortenberry in the opening stanza including a 3 point basket

with :08 left to give Picayune a 16-9 lead.  The Maroon Tide built a commanding 36-17 half time advantage as Fortenberry

had 17 points at the break.

Fortenberry finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and was 4-4 from the charity stripe.  Chris Dees had another

double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  David McClain added 12 points.

Ike Bowden led the Hornets (5-4,0-5) with 12 points.

Picayune will host Pearl River Central on Friday.

Chris Dees (15) scores on a shot over Poplarville's Pierre Raine (20).

Brandon Fortenberry applies pressure to Bryant Travis (5).                                   Wayne Mickel (left), Chris Dees (center), and Ben Daly (44)  wait for the Hornets.

Brandon Fortenberry (4) scores and is fouled                                                David McClain (33) fires away from behind the 3 point line.

Brandon Fortenberry dribbles past the Hornets Bryant Travis (5) & ends up with a lay up on his way to 21 points for Picayune in their 61-42 win over Poplarville.