Three of the four local teams picked up wins on Monday in opening day action of the annual Picayune Christmas Invitational Tournament.

Host  Picayune swept a pair of games from Perry Central while the Poplarville girls won as well.

The Poplarville boys, however, came up just an inch or so short.

The Picayune Lady Tide picked up a 48-44 win over the Lady Bulldogs in an exciting game.

Tee Myers scored a game high 16 points to pace Picayune, while Clarissa Jones added 10.

The win pushes Picayune to 8-8 on the season.

The Maroon Tide jumped out to a 20-1 lead after the first period and cruised to a 69-29 win. The Tide is now 11-6 on the year.

Courtney  Nixon scored 13 in a balanced Tide attack that also had Justin Mark with 11, Tommy Nuccio with 10 and Sullivan Bell with nine.

Meanwhile, Poplarville split a pair of games in the first day of the event in a couple of exciting games.

The Lady Hornets got a big 3-pointer from Syn Henry with just over a minute to play and then a key putback basket from Daquari Raine with :35 seconds to go as Poplarville hung on to edge McComb 44-43.

Bretta Hart tallied 15 points to pace Poplarville while Raine added 14 and Kendra Hall eight to the winning cause as the Lady Hornets ran their record to 10-1.

Angelina Hart led McComb with 16.

Jalen Raine came up just short on a potential game tying 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Poplarville boys fell to George County 60-57.

Raine had 17 to lead the Hornets, while Lattimore Pittman added 14 points for Poplarville, which is 3-8 on the year.

Adrian Bradley led the Rebels with a game high 18 points, while Rolin Jones added 15. Bradley had two key 3-pointers in the climactic final period as well as several big steals in the final minutes.

In other  boys action, West Harrison nipped Lumberton 66-64.

D.J. Bolden had 16 and Stacey Dennis 14 for the Hurricanes, while Charles Harris had 16 and Malcom Roberts 15 for the Panthers.

Also, Independence, La., beat Vancleave in boys action 69-64.

Colin Bray had 20 points for Vancleave and Isaiah Warren added 13 while Desmond Henry scored 20 to lead Independence and Kavondre James added 14.

In other girls action, Lumberton beat Loyd Star 49-4 thanks to a game high 27 points from Shameika Hart. Erica Smith had 14 for Loyd Star and Tyrisha Patterson 13.

Also, the Franklin County girls beat George County 80-30.

Action resumes at 10 a.m., today with eight more games on tap.

PRC in action

The teams from Pearl River Central will also be in action for some Holiday play beginning today.

Both the Blue Devils and Lady Devils will travel to Mendenhall to play in that school’s Christmas Tournament. The PRC boys will play a pair of games while the PRC girls will play three games.

Both PRC teams will face off with the host teams from Mendenhall tonight, then both PRC teams will face the teams from Florence High on Wednesday.

The Lady Devils will then wrap up play in the event on Thursday afternoon against Crystal Springs.