By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

CARRIERE — Jason Kennedy had much more fun in the second game of his first year as a basketball coach at Picayune than Tom Taylor did in the first game of his second season.

Kennedy’s Lady Tide got off to a quick start and overwhelmed Moss Point 59-21, while Taylor’s Tide team began slow and got run over by Bay High 50-33.

Both games were played Wednesday in third day action of the Pearl River Central Tip-Off Tournament.

The Lady Tide used a swarming pressure defense and forced an amazing 41 turnovers in the first half alone and cruised to the win.

“We like to speed the game up,” Kennedy, whose team is now 2-0, said. “I feel like the more shots we take, the better chance we have to score. Our defense was a key in getting us the ball and getting us some good shots. I was pleased with everything but our rebounding.”

Picayune smothered the Lady Tigers early and often, and jumped out to a 13-2 lead four minutes into the game.

Picayune led 29-8 on a 12-foot jumper by Andrea Jackson early in the second stanza.

A basket by Keanna Magee made it 51-15 with four minutes to play in the third period, and Kennedy started emptying his bench.

Andrea Jackson paced Picayune with 16 points, while Sharonda Jackson had eight and Teela Hayes had eight.

The Lady Tide now takes on Poplarville at 6 p.m., tonight in a big early season game between the Pearl River County rivals.

• The Maroon Tide got off to a sluggish start offensively and never really recovered against the Tigers.

Bay High jumped out to a 12-2 lead as Picayune turned the ball over on four straight trips down the court.

Vince Gable came off the bench to hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter, and the Maroon Tide was able to cut the lead to 19-13 mid-way through the period, but that would be as close as they could get as the Tigers extended the lead back to double digits at halftime.

Picayune was never able to cut the deficit to single digits again.

“They are very good defensively, and they contested our shots real well,” Taylor said. “We got off to a slow start and hurt ourselves early.”

Gable had 13 to lead the Tide while J.T. Biggs added 9. Demitry Johnson scored a game high 14 for the Tigers, now 2-0.

The Tide returns to the court tonight at 7:30 against St. Stanislaus.

• The Pearl River Central Lady Devils took on Resurrection on the road Tuesday and came away with a 60-17 win.

PRC is 1-1 on the year. Caroline Lumpkin scored 14 in the win, Bria Pitts added 12 and Megan Calcote added 10. PRC was up 40-0 at halftime.

PRC is back in action Friday at the PRC tourney.