Both Picayune’s Maroon Tide as well as the Lady Tide finished up unbeaten in the annual county tournament with big wins on Saturday night.

The Maroon Tide moved to a perfect 7-0 on the season, beating Thibodeaux, La., 68-60. It was the fourth win in the past five days for Picayune, including three straight in the tournament.

“I think this was big for our team, this was a very good win,” Picayune head coach Daniel Kennedy said. “You plan these types of tournament to see how your team reacts in a playoff type of atmosphere and hope it will help you come district tournament time. We responded well and we gave a really good effort.”

Picayune got a game high 25 points from Chris Dees and both Brandon Fortenberry and Justin Smith added 10 points apiece in the win.

Shawn Coleman scored 16 for the Tigers. Picayune held a comfortable lead for most of the second and third quarters, before Thibodeaux cut into the deficit some but the Tide held on.

“We have played hard so far,” Kennedy added. “We just need to keep working hard and improving.”

Saturday’s win came on the heels of a 61-46 win over Slidell for Picayune on Friday.

Dees tallied a game high 23 points in that win, while Fortenberry added 12 and David McClain eight for the Maroon Tide.

• The Lady Tide of head coach Kristie Mitchell beat Pearl River County rival Poplarville on Saturday 43-39 to wrap up play in the tourney at 2-0.

Picayune stands 7-4 on the season with the win.

Monique Brown continued her impressive play of late as she tallied a game high 21 points to pace Picayune and Ebony Jones added nine in the win.

“I’m pleasantly surprised with where we are right now,” Mitchell said. “We were able to beat both PRC and Poplarville in this tournament, and hopefully that will give us some confidence going into district play.”

Demi Beason scored 11 for Poplarville, which stands 2-5. Policia Travis scored nine, and Larke Nightengale and Jeronda Beason added eight apiece for the Lady Hornets.

The Lady Hornets were coming off a 51-40 win over PRC on Friday as Demi beason scored 16 in the win and Travis added 11 while Jeronda Beason added nine points.

Brooke Eccles scored a game high 19 to pace the Lady Devils, who are 3-5 on the season.

• The tourney wasn’t kind to the PRC boys team, as the Blue Devils dropped three straight games.

PRC fell to Thibodeaux 82-49 on Friday, as Shawn Coleman had 20 for the Tigers. Cody Ladner scored 10 to pace PRC while Ricky Chisum added seven.

On Saturday, Northshore of Slidell beat PRC 58-45. Chisum scored 16 to lead the Blue Devils while Je’Barr Locure added 11. PRC stands 1-8 on the year.

• Poplarville’s boys team didn’t fare much better in the event, as the Hornets fell in two games also.

On Friday, Northshore beat Poplarville 80-43 as Lavell Henry scored 18 and Pierre Raine added seven.

On Saturday, Slidell beat the Hornets 67-34 as Pierre Raine scored 13 and Henry added eight. Poplarville is 1-6 on the season.

• The tourney served basically as the final tune up before Region 8-4A play begin for all three local teams in the coming days.

The Maroon Tide, which is ranked eight in the state, opens league play Friday against another unbeaten team in St. Stanislaus. Picayune travels to Bay St. Louis for that game.

The Lady Tide will wait until Tuesday, Dec. 11th to get back in action and see their first league action as D’Iberville comes to Picayune for games with both the girls and boys on that date.

Poplarville and PRC each will have off a few days and then renew acquaintances on Friday as they meet to kick off Region 8-4A play in Carriere.

Ironically, the venue in Carriere, the renovated gym at PRC, will not only be the starting site for division play for both PRC and Poplarville but also will serve as the home for the upcoming division tournament in February as well.