Tuesday evening, the Poplarville Lady Hornets basketball team beat the Sacred Heart Crusaders 55-41 at home for their season opener. That same day, the Picayune Maroon Tide boys basketball team lost their third straight game while on the road to the Hattiesburg Tigers, 54-47.

 

Lady Hornets

 

“I thought we played aggressive…we set the tone on getting offensive boards and I thought overall I was most happy about us playing aggressive defense,” said Head Coach Steve Willey.

 

The Lady Hornets led at the end of each quarter. Avery Travis finished with 18 points and Aleah Bester had 12 points and her sister Ta’meah Bester had 11 points.

 

Willey says they still have areas of their game to clean up. Poplarville prides themselves on defense, rebounding and free throws. Rebounding and defense performances that night were superb, but free throws need more work. Moving forward, if the Lady Hornets keep improving on the little things, Willey says they will continue to get better.

 

Next the Lady Hornets will be on the road to play the Stone Tomcats on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.

 

In that game, Willey is looking for a repeat of aggressive defense and rebounding, sprinkled with discipline and patience on offense.

 

Picayune

“That’s a winnable game for us, but right now we don’t have the whole team,” said Head Coach Eric Vianney.

 

The Maroon Tide is suffering so far this season, mainly due to the team’s incomplete roster due to and overlap of the varsity football season. The empty spots put several players in positions to play extra minutes. Right now Vianney is playing a seven-man rotation. Vianney said the current players are still competitive and go out every night looking to compete and win.

 

“The guys here competed and they battled, still we don’t look like ourselves but we don’t feel sorry for ourselves because we understand we got to go into those games to create and opportunity for ourselves,” he said.

Picayune will continue to focus on taking charges on defense. Vianney feels his players have the opportunity to sacrifice their bodies on defense but are hesitant to stand and take the hit. Also, collecting rebounds and limiting opposing straight line drives to the basket are key. Turnovers and free throws will also be touched on moving forward.

Next, Picayune will host the Presbyterian Christian Bobcats on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m.