The first day of McComb’s Holiday Tournament featured five games involving Pike County teams. Those will dwindle over the next two days as McComb faces North Pike tonight and South Pike on Wednesday.
Rematches were the rule for Monday as the South Pike Lady Eagles and McComb Tigers beat teams for the third time this season.
McComb defeated Tylertown 90-36 as Ladarius White scored 31, Julius Brown hit six 3-pointers on his way to 18 points and Daven Gooden added 15.
“When you play a team three times, you’re afraid of playing them again,” McComb head coach Hilton Harrell said. “But we have definitely improved.
“We have two hard-fought games coming up, and hopefully we can build on this.”
Lady Eagles 35, Panthers 28
The Lady Eagles faced the same Brookhaven girls team for the third time this season, and head coach Marcus Flippin changed things up for the Panthers.
“We were working on our halfcourt game and not pressing as much,” Flippin said.
The slower pace combined with a bad day shooting as South Pike won 35-28. A 9-0 run to start the second quarter gave the Eagles a lead they held on to, but slowing the game down wasn’t just to get some practice in the halfcourt.
“To be honest, we have to play McComb on Wednesday,” Flippin said.
The Eagles lost to McComb in the South Pike Holiday Tournament on Saturday and will face the Lady Tigers for the fourth time this season Wednesday night.
Brookhaven closed the gap to two points three times but never found the equalizer. Tomika Cook scored 14 points for South Pike and Kierra Addison added seven.
South Pike’s scoring drought continued into a new week, and Flippin said he hopes it’s just the holiday break messing with the Eagles’ routines.
“We’re having a hard time thinking,” Flippin said. “I don’t know if it’s the break.
“Early on we shot well and were able to out-quick people. Now everybody’s getting better and we have to out-think people, run our offense and handle pressure.”
Mendenhall 60, South Pike 59
In the closest game of the day, Mendenhall just topped the South Pike boys 60-59 on a last-second layup that was hustled upcourt after a missed free throw.
Freshman DeAngelo Coleman, who has played himself into the rotation over the past weeks, missed the front end of a one-and-one with seconds left on the clock.
Mendenhall pushed it and found a layup — one of many during the game — to clinch the slim victory.
“He’s going to dream about those free throws for a while,” South Pike head coach Joe Taylor said. “Hopefully it will help him develop.
“He’s getting better with every ballgame and they got a layup at the buzzer. That’s it.”
South Pike held an eight-point lead at half but came out flat in the third to reverse its fortunes.
“They outscored us in the third quarter,” Taylor said. “We were up by eight and they outscored us by 16. We didn’t get guys back in transition.”
The Eagles fought back to take a lead with two minutes left. Devontee Cook put back a miss to give the Eagles a 59-58 lead before forcing a jump ball that gave the ball back to South Pike and led to Coleman’s free throws.
Coming off the bench, Coleman finished with 14 points. Donerrick Ellzey led the Eagles with 18 points and Trevosity Ellzey scored 10, with Devon Malone adding nine.
Lady Jaguars 67, Cowgirls 51
The Lady Jaguars faced Sumner, La., for the first time, but used their press to get out to an early lead and pushed it farther in the third quarter.
Olivia Kennedy hit four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points for North Pike. Brittany Patterson scored 19 and Shanika Turner added 16.
In the first and third quarters, North Pike had spurts where it stole the ball on three straight possessions from Sumner and had easy baskets to add to its lead.
“Talaha Robertson was their ball handler,” North Pike head coach Lance Golmon said. “If we could get anybody to guard her, they didn’t cross halfcourt.
“When it works they get discouraged, and our intensity picks up when we get the steal.”
Brookhaven 52, North Pike 41
North Pike kept it tied against Brookhaven in the first half, but the second half was the Jaguars’ undoing with missed shots and turnovers that gave the Panthers the opportunity to get out front.
Jacob Morgan scored 14 to lead North Pike. LeMichael Quin scored 11 and Demetric Jackson added 10.
“We came out for three-fourths of the game with great intensity,” North Pike head coach Keith Russ said. “We still have to get tough mentally and physically. We have to improve our inside game.
“We’re not a tall team, but we still have to be able to box out and outwork our opponents.”
