Sports / Outdoors – 1/20/2006

Published 12:00 am Friday, January 20, 2006

The Panolian: SPORTS – January 20, 2006

  From the 1/20/06 issue of The Panolian        
  

Cougars win back-to-back
     Despite the unappreciated Senatobia crowd, North Panola’s Jeremy Johnson (right) went up for the basket and got the foul instead Tuesday night. North Panola defeated Senatobia in district action at home 69-35.
 
By Myra Bean

It was a split decision in Sardis as the North Panola Cougars and Lady Cougars hosted Senatobia in district games Tuesday.

The Lady Cougars fell to the Lady Warriors after a fierce battle 61-45.

The Cougar men have put together back-to-back district wins with a 69-35 victory. The Cougars defeated Palmer Friday night in a close, 75-72.

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Cougars
The back-to-back wins bring the Cougars’ record this season to four wins with a 3-2 district record. The final score was no way indicative of the first half played between these two teams.

Both struggled with getting the ball to fall. North Panola would have a lead that seemed comfortable. Then Senatobia would shoot a few three-pointers to get back in the game and keep the game off balance.

The Cougars started off with a 5-0 lead in the first quarter at the 6:46 mark, but by the 4:54 mark Senatobia had tied the score at seven. The game was tied at 10 at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Cougars led 17-10 at the 4:31 mark. At the half, the Cougars only led 19-17.

The Cougars found their footing in the second half and managed to build a 13 point lead, 34-21, with 3:47 on the third quarter clock. The Warriors were not able to see themselves out of the hole they had dug.

Four Cougars scored in double figures led by Rodregus Black with 18 points, followed by Roderick Jefferson with 17 points and Jeremy Johnson and Bruce Wilbourn with 14 points each.

The Cougars found themselves battling an uphill district match with the Palmer Dragons Friday night in Sardis. Palmer enjoyed a 15-9 first quarter lead.

It was the Cougars breathing fire in the second quarter to take a three-point advantage into halftime.

The Cougars scored 26 points in the second half to take a 35-32 halftime lead.

The third quarter was just as lucrative for the Cougars as they outscored the Dragons 22-15 as their lead increased to 10 going into the fourth quarter, 57-47.

Palmer almost made up the deficit in the fourth quarter as they heated up the nets to outscore the Cougars 25-18, but the buzzer sounded before the Dragons could see daylight.

Black was the Cougar high scorer with 22 points, followed by Jefferson with 18 points. Also scoring for the Cougars were Johnson and Wilbourn, 9 points each and Jason Roberson, 8 points.

Lady Cougars
Right before the half, the Lady Cougars were down 26-14 with 3:52 left on the clock.

The Lady Cougars outscored Senatobia 9-0 in those final minutes to close the gap 26-23 at halftime.

They were not able to keep that momentum as the third quarter got underway and not able to duplicate that march to close the gap at the end of the game.

Senatobia led 43-35 going into the fourth quarter. Senatobia led by as many as 20 points before the end of the game.

Dynyel Presley led the Lady Cougars with 15 points, followed by Tinisha Williams with 10 points.

Against Palmer Friday, the Lady Cougars lost 60-55. North Panola led at the end of the first quarter 9-8. At the half, North Panola had a 29-25 lead. Both teams scored 14 points in the third quarter.

It was the fourth quarter where Palmer turned up the heat, took the lead and the win by outscoring North Panola 21-12.

Daphne Thomas was the leading Lady Cougar scorer with 18 points, followed by Taronda Pettis with 12.

The Lady Cougars have only one win this season and that was early against Coldwater in a tournament.

The teams will be home tonight to host Water Valley in district games beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Cougar teams will travel to Byhalia for more district games.
 

Over 700 trees to be placed for fish in
     Sardis Lake habitat
By Myra Bean

Sardis Lake is gearing up for its annual Trees for Fish Day which will be held tomorrow.

The Corps of Engineers has collected over 700 trees to use for fish habitats at Sardis Lake, according to Park Ranger Gary Hardin.

"We need lots of volunteers to help get these trees out," Hardin said.

Discarded Christmas trees will be collected and placed in the upper lake to create fish shelters, which are needed for spawning and protection of young fish, according to the brochure prepared for this event.

Volunteers will need to dress warmly, bring work gloves and wear rubber boots.

Those who have pontoon boats and ATVs are asked to bring them for use in hauling and placing of the trees. ATV users will need to wear helmets.

The event will be held rain or shine, according to Hardin. Volunteers will meet at Engineers Point ramp or the Holiday Lodge at Teckville Landing at 8 a.m. for orientation and instructions.

The event is scheduled to stop around noon when the volunteers will be served a hot lunch and door prizes will be awarded.

For more information on the event, call Hardin at (662) 563-4531.
 

J.P. Hudson Park announces registration
J. P. Hudson Park board of directors has announced registration plans for the 2006 season. A general meeting will be held Tuesday, January 31 at 7 p.m. in the Tallahatchie Valley EPA auditorium on Tower Drive.

Baseball and softball registration will be held the first two Saturdays in February: February 4 and 11 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration will be held in the TVEPA auditorium.

Registration fees are $100 for the first child and $60 for second child. This year the fee includes the snow cone fee.

There will be no late registration. See the display ad on page C3.
 

Green Waves still flounder
The North Delta basketball teams are still struggling as they fell to Marshall Tuesday night.

The varsity ladies lost 63-32. Ashley Golden led in scoring for the Lady Green Waves with 10 points, followed by Casey Whitworth with nine points.

Marshall led 26-20 at halftime.

The North Delta boys lost 63-26 with Nathanael Abernethy scoring 10 points.

Marshall led 32-6 at halftime.

The Green Wave teams have a busy upcoming schedule. They hosted Clarksdale Lee last night but the score was not available at press time. Tonight they will be at Kirk Academy in Grenada for a district matchup beginning at 4 p.m.

Next week will mark the end of the regular season for the Green Waves.

Tuesday, January 24, they will travel to Carroll Academy and Thursday they will host Bayou in the final district game of the season. These games begin at 4 p.m.

Friday, the varsity teams will host Tunica Institute in non-conference action beginning at 6 p.m.

 
SP ladies fall to Southaven
By Myra Bean

Though the South Panola men Tigers coasted through their game 74-48, the Lady Tigers were the victims of the Southaven Lady Chargers Tuesday night.

The Lady Tigers lost 59-48 to go 8-12 overall and 1-3 in district action.

"We had a really nice first half," Lady Tiger head coach Ralph Stallings said. "We got the same shots in the second half but that didn’t help."

Stallings said he took the ball out of the guard’s hands and decided the take the ball inside.

"Our shots just didn’t fall the second half," he said. "We got a lot of fouls and free throws but we didn’t convert them."

Southaven’s Kristin Coleman scored 26 points for the Lady Chargers.

"She was unstoppable," Stallings said. "We fouled her and she went to the line and got her free throws."

The Lady Tigers led 32-30 at halftime after a 22-16 second quarter. Seven Lady Tigers scored in the second quarter to give the team the boost it needed.

South Panola was down 14-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Leading Lady Tiger scorer guard Sabrina Townsend, niece of Pittsburgh Steeler Deshea townsend, scored seven of her 13 points in the second quarter and six in the first quarter.

Other scorers for the Lady Tigers include Shanice Williams and Kim Sanford, 7 points each; Vetorra Cole, 6 points; Jessica Govan and Courtney D. Jones, 4 points each; Sabine Barth, 3 points; Tenisha Mitchell and Skylar Barnes, 2 points each.

Tigers
Joseph Hankins hit 100 percent from the floor Tuesday night as he sank five of five field goals and pulled down three rebounds.

Tiger Rodney Gray was the game high scorer with 21 points, eight rebounds one assist and one steal.

The Tigers led the whole game. At the end of hte first quarter they had a 12-8 lead. Going into halftime, the Tigers led 26-17.

It was a re-energized Tiger team which took the floor for the second half as they outscored Southaven 48-20, scoring 24 points in each quarter.
Tiger head coach Charlie Howard said they could have beaten them worse but he let the whole team play. Eight Tigers scored points.

Two more were in double figures: Jarred Pope, 14 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and Anthony Nelson, 10 points, 4 rebounds.

Also scoring for the Tigers were Cordell Austin, 6 points, 1 each assist, rebound and steal; Justin Vaughn, 5 points, 6 assists, 2 steals; Rod Moore, 4 points, 9 assists, 4 steals; and Shawn Daniels, 4 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 block.

B-Team Tigers
The B-team Tigers won by 14 points and Howard reported that all the guys played well.

Having an especially good game were Antonio Allen, Michael Broadnax, C.J. Raynor and Darius "Tigg" Barksdale."

9th Grade Tigers
The ninth grade Tigers accepted a late invitation to a tournament held in Desoto Central this week.
The Tigers won Wednesday night and played against Thursday night but the outcome was not available at presstime. The final game will be played Saturday night at 6 p.m.

Schedule
The Tigers will be at home tonight to take on J.Z. George in non-conference action. The girls game will begin earlier than usual at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

Tuesday, the Tiger teams will be in Horn Lake for a pivotal district game. The Lady Tigers defeated Horn Lake in the first matchup, but the Tiger men lost.

Tuesday night, the Olive Branch men defeated Horn Lake, 54-48. The Olive Branch girls defeated Horn Lake by one point, 58-57.

While Olive Branch and South Panola were hooping it up last Friday, the Southaven Lady Chargers (13-6 overall, 2-1 district) defeated the Horn Lake Lady Eagles 45-41 in Horn Lake.

In the boys game, Horn Lake rolled to a 64-43 victory over Southaven.

It seems everybody?s right but Tiger fans
By Myra Bean

I have been back and forth on the phone and the computer with people about my column Tuesday regarding no South Panola player in the top 40 recruit list.

Some agreed with me but low and behold some disagreed.

I know what you mean. Who would ever disagree with me?

One person on the email suggested I see what , and have to say about D1 (Division 1) recruits.

I ask, why? I know what they say. I have been looking all year long. That doesn’t mean I agree with them.

The thing is that before the season everybody has hyped up certain players to perform. Therefore, they are loathe to change the formula at the end of the season when the hype did not play out to the written script.

So, I am not allowed to question the great recruiting gurus on their choices because the gurus knew from the beginning of the season who are their choices.

According to my knowledgeable liaison who likes to point out that everybody is right but me, I should just get on the boat pointing in this direction and not rock it by trying to get it to turn around.

Some of these players performed for themselves and did nothing for their team so they will get the lucrative college scholarships and everybody else will get whatever or nothing at all.

Most people are not interested in a team thing. They are looking for standout, individual play.

For football? Wrong sport. Football is a team sport.

I had to pull out the facts about the recruits of Olive Branch and Meridian. Between those two teams they scored 17 points against South Panola in three games.

If football was a sport for just individual accomplishment, those teams should have taken the Tigers to the cleaners. Guess who got a reality check.

The email guy said a 5’10" 300 pound lineman is not a D1 prospect and alluded that our guys are too short.

Hello – Derek Pegues, national recruit at 5’9".

Hello – Deshea Townsend, 5’10", of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers who could be playing in the Superbowl if all goes well Sunday.

Yeah! Kerry Hoskins and Kareem Carr of South Panola ate the lunch of Olive Branch receivers in the two games.

They may not be every day giants but on the field they were.

You have to give me better reasons than height for denying really good players.

They really don’t have to give me any reason because they will do what they want. Since they will do what they want, I can disagree with whomever I want.

We do want our guys to know that we support them and believe in them and I thank everybody who took the time to pick up the phone and call in your support.

"And another thing that you wrote in your piece about South Panola being the best in the nation," Michael Jefcoat wrote. "Tell them to prove it. Play some of the schools that are ranked year in and year out. Hoover, Ala. is closer than Moss Point and so is Springdale, Ark., Chattanooga, Tenn. and West Monroe, La. You can’t be the best until you play the best. I know what your answer is going to be. They won’t play South Panola. Heard it before."
 

 
 

 


                                         
                         
 

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