The North Pike Lady Jaguars hadn’t beaten cross-county rival McComb for the past five seasons.
On Friday night, they and head coach Lance Golmon finally saw how the other half lived.
The Lady Jaguars overcame first-half offensive struggles to beat the McComb Lady Tigers 60-22 at the North Pike gym.
Ignited by their bench players, the Lady Jaguars (9-2) went on a 13-0 run from late in the third quarter through most of the fourth quarter to win their third straight.
It was the first career victory over McComb for Golmon, in his fifth season as North Pike head coach. The win was sparked by North Pike’s 29-9 second-half advantage over McComb.
“I thought we all played well,” Golmon said, “but the bench came in and didn’t turn the ball over.”
Golmon was especially pleased with the play of guard Felecia Dillon.
One day before her 18th birthday, Dillon had three steals and dished out four assists in the second half. Her first impact of the game, however, occurred late in the first half. She sank a pair of free throws to up North Pike’s lead to 26-13, then drained a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to make it 31-13.
The Lady Jaguars overcame a first half in which they missed 12 layups and were just 4-for-13 from the free-throw line, but still led 31-13 at halftime.
“We finished plays in the second half,” Golmon said. “We had some younger players come in the second half and play well.
“We’re a good team,” Golmon added. “If we start finishing possessions, we could be even better.”
The Lady Tigers (3-9) had offensive struggles of their own. McComb missed its first 10 shots and shot just 13 percent (6-of-48) from the field for the game.
McComb head coach Angelia Johnson declined comment after the game.
North Pike scored the first six points of the second half. Forward Kaylan Hughes hit a runner through the lane for two of her game-high 20 points to build the Lady Jaguars’ lead to 37-13.
McComb’s first points of the second half didn’t come until Alexus Johnson followed her own miss from the top of the key, grabbed the offensive rebound and sank the 12-footer in the lane to make it 37-15 with 4:17 to go in the third period.
Later in the period, Hughes dropped in consecutive layups, the first off Shelby Abdul-Hadi’s cross-court pass from the left wing.
Abdul-Hadi tallied her only points of the game with a 3-pointer from the left wing with :00.8 left on the clock to make it 48-20.
North Pike then opened the fourth quarter with 10 consecutive points, including a Precious Jefferson baseline jumper for two of her 10 points to make it 54-20.
Both teams will compete this week in the McComb Holiday Tournament.
In first-round play, North Pike will take on Moss Point at 3 p.m. Monday, while McComb will face Wilkinson County at 6 p.m. Monday.
