By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

CARRIERE — Arch-rivals Picayune and Pearl River Central squared off in a pair of exciting Division 8-4A basketball games Tuesday night, and in the end it turned out to be a split.

It was the third meeting of the season between both the boy’s and the girls teams from PRC and Picayune. Tuesday night, the Maroon Tide maintained its mastery of the blue Devils with a 44-36 second half comeback win, while the Lady Devils pulled out an exciting 52-49 win.

For the PRC girls, it was their first league win of the year and first for new head coach Kevin Harris.

“We’ve been on the other end of that kind of game about six times this year,” Harris, whose Lady Devils move to 6-15 overall and 1-6 in league play, said. “It was just one of those games where the girls just kind of said enough is enough, and we bowed up and showed some character and won it.”

The game was a see-saw affair, with both teams holding the lead several times in the game.

With Picayune up 48-46 with less than two minutes to play, PRC’s Shaneka Fowler grabbed a steal and dished off to Kayla Drummond for a lay-up that knotted the game up.

Drummond, who tallied a game high 20 points, then gave the Lady Devils the lead for good when she scored inside with :23 seconds to play.

Fowler added 18 points for PRC in the win, while Monique Brown scored 15 for Picayune and Karly Moran added nine and Andrea Jackson 8.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Lady Tide, as they fell to 5-15 overall and 3-6 in league play. PRC has beaten Picayune two out of three meetings this season.

In the boys game, the Maroon Tide beat the Blue Devils for the third time this year.

PRC led the entire first half in a low scoring affair, and held a 21-15 advantage with five minutes to play in the third period before Picayune went on a 16-0 run and held PRC scoreless for almost eight minutes.

That spurt put Picayune up 31-21 with six minutes to play, and although the Blue Devils cut the deficit to five with three minutes left at 32-27 the Tide made nine of 12 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Picayune moved to 11-10 overall and 7-4 in league play with the win, and the victory guaranteed head coach Tom Taylor’s team of at least the number three seed in the upcoming division tournament. PRC is now 7-14 overall and 2-7 in league play.

Vince Gable and Lloyd Hall tallied 13 points apiece for the winners, while Je’Barr Locure tossed in a game high 17 for PRC. The Tide held PRC’s leading scorer Josh Nixon, who averages over 20 points per game to just five points.

Both PRC teams host Long Beach in league play Friday while both Picayune squads are off for a week before hosting D’Iberville on Tuesday.