Postseason basketball action is reaching its boiling point across the MAIS and MHSAA this week, and Pike County has a quartet of teams that are still alive in their respective brackets.
After winning the MAIS 5A South-State Tournament, Parklane Academy's girls team finished in second at the overall 5A tournament last week, falling to top-seeded East Rankin by a score of 54-48 in the championship round on Saturday.
Thus, the Lady Pioneers enter the overall MAIS Tournament as a two-seed. They will face 2A champions Columbus Christian at 1:45 p.m. on Monday, with the game being played at Mississippi College in Clinton.
Should Parklane emerge victorious, it would then wait until the following Monday to take on the winner of the Lamar Christian-Kirk Academy matchup at 11:15 a.m.
South Pike's boys basketball team cruised to a 76-62 opening-round win over Hazlehurst in the MHSAA 3A Playoffs, and the top-seeded Eagles are now playing in the second round against third-seeded Noxubee County.
That game was supposed to be played Saturday night in Magnolia but was postponed until 6 p.m. Monday. Should South Pike win, it would face top-seeded Crystal Springs in the quarterfinals Thursday.
And lastly, both of North Pike's varsity basketball teams are still alive in the MHSAA 5A Playoffs.
The second-seeded Lady Jaguars picked up a dominant 54-7 win over Gautier in the opening round last Friday and now take on Laurel in the second round Friday at Pearl River Community College. The Golden Tornadoes have notably only lost one game this season.
And the third-seeded boys team went on the road and took down Wayne County by a score of 53-36 on Friday.
The Jaguars will face South Jones next Friday at Pearl River, a team that North Pike knows quite well from its three meetings as district foes this season. All of those games resulted in losses for the Jaguars.
*All brackets are linked within the tournament names*
