By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

Just less than two months ago, as the prep basketball season was getting started, Pearl River Central swept a pair of games from Picayune in the Pearl River County Tournament.

Friday night, though, the sneakers were on the other feet, so to speak.

Homestanding Picayune swept a pair of Division 8-4A games from the PRC teams as the lady Tide won 45-37 and the Maroon Tide slipped past the Blue Devils 48-45.

The win for the Picayune girls allowed them to remain unbeaten at home on the season, as the Lady Tide stand 5-11 overall but more importantly 3-2 in league play.

“We really didn’t play that well. It was an ugly win but we’ll take it,” Picayune head coach Kristie Mitchell said. “We were unorganized, but we did do a good job of distributing the ball.”

The Lady Tide took the lead for good in the first quarter and held off the scrappy Lady Devils, who fell to 4-12 overall and remain winless in league play at 0-5.

PRC’s Kayla Drummond hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds to play to cut the deficit to 41-37, but Picayune’s Monique Brown nailed a pair of free throws two seconds later to seal the win.

Brown paced Picayune with 11 points, while Hillary Dickens added eight points and a game high 15 rebounds.

Maria Diaz and Drummond led PRC with 10 points apiece, and Drummond played just the second half.

Brown, though, missed the earlier game between the two teams as well.

• In the boys game, Picayune moved to just 9-7 overall but 5-1 in league play and set up a big showdown with league leading St. Stanislaus on Tuesday. The Rockachaws are the only team to beat the Maroon Tide in division play this season.

“I’m proud of my guys, even though we tried to give it away,” first year Picayune head coach Tom Taylor said. “We missed a lot of shots, but both teams played really hard.”

Picayune led through most of the first three quarters, before the Blue Devils rallied to take a 31-20 lead entering the final period.

A 9-0 run to open the final period, though, that included 3-pointers by Courtney Nixon and Vince Gable as well as Lloyd Hall, put Picayune up 39-31 and the Maroon Tide held on for the win.

Gable, coming off a career high 31 point performance in a 50-48 win over Poplarville on Tuesday, led Picayune with 12 points while Hall added 11 and Reggie Bailey chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds.

PRC’s Josh Nixon tallied a game high 23 points and Je’Barr Locure added nine. The Blue Devils fall to 6-10 overall and 2-3 in league play