BOARD BUSTER: Picayune’s Tearrah Harris and her Lady Tide teammates are coming off of a big win over Stone County on Friday night.
Photo by Curtis Rockwell

It wasn’t exactly the frozen tundra, but Picayune came up with a pair of big district wins on a chilly Friday night against visiting Stone County.

The Lady Tide got things off to a good start with a 51-43 over the Stone girls, and then the Maroon Tide completed the sweep with a 53-46 victory.

The Picayune girls moved to 7-11 overall but more importantly 2-3 in league play with the win. Head coach Dennis Peterson’s crew placed four players in double digits in a game that he called “a complete team victory”.

“We played really well, played together as a team all night,” the veteran mentor said. “We have played better over the past few weeks. One of the biggest differences is that we have a few more girls stepping up and making baskets for us. I can’t tell you when the last time we had four players in double figures.”

Jada Simmons, Maya Whitehead, and Ashley Bridges tallied 12 points apiece in the winning effort to pace Picayune, while Brandy Magee added 11 points.

Tearrah Harris dominated the glass for the Lady Tide, pulling down 12 rebounds.

“I can’t say enough about Tearrah,” Peterson added. “She has really stepped up on defense and rebounding. She is a big reason for our improvement as well.”

Harris has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in five of the last six games for Picayune.

In all likelihood, both Picayune teams will face Stone again in the semifinals of the Region 7-5A Tournament in a few weeks with a berth in the Class 5A South State playoffs on the line.

“We have a shot at making it if we just keep improving and working hard,” Peterson concluded. “They are learning how to play the game better, that has been a key as well.”

The Lady Tide and their male counterparts were originally slated to host neighboring Hancock Tuesday night. However, those games were cancelled due to inclement weather.

As of now, the next action for both Picayune teams will be Friday night on the road at Long Beach. It will be the final regular season league games for both teams.

The Maroon Tide comes into this week 11-10 overall and 2-3 in league play as well.

In the win over the Tomcats Friday night, Donovan Rice and Shemar Williams evenly split 38 points to pace Picayune to the big win. Jonathan Baker added eight points to the winning cause. Williams also had nine rebounds and Rice dished out eight assists, as the Maroon Tide avenged a last second loss to Stone several weeks ago.

In other local action this week, both Poplarville teams are also in district play as they travel to Pass Christian on Thursday. Those games were originally slated for Tuesday night as well. The Hornets are trying to get back on track after a tough league loss to St. Stanislaus Friday night.

“We are young, and we have to be able to learn from losses like this,” Poplarville head coach Chareck Cable said. “We are taking a few lumps, but that’s part of the growing process. We just have to keep working.”

The Hornets beat the Pirates earlier in the season. Zachary Scales recorded 20 points and Rashard Moore added 11 points as D’Iberville beat Pass Christian 58-47 at Hoopsfest on Saturday. The usually high-powered Pirates are just 8-12 this season.

Also, it’s a big week for both Pearl River Central teams as each will play three games over the next seven days. Games against Lumberton originally slated for Tuesday night have been postponed. PRC gets back into Region 5-5A play in a big way at home Friday and Saturday. Jackson Wingfield comes calling Friday and then Natchez visits Saturday, in a clash that was postponed from Friday night.

Then, on Monday, both the Blue Devils and the Lady Devils host Pearl River County rival Poplarville.