By Brad Greer

The South Panola Lady Tigers got 28 points from senior Sabrina Townsend to  remain undefeated on the season at 6-0 with a 74-42 romp over the visiting Charleston Tigers Tuesday.

“I don’t know when South Panola Lady Tigers have been this far along and been undefeated,” head coach Ralph Stallings said.

South Panola took an 18-5 lead after the first quarter then cruised the rest of the way to pick up the victory. Skylar Barnes put back of a Vettorra Cole missed shot  gave the Tigers  a 12-5 lead. Cole then turned one of 31 Charleston’s turnovers into a easy layup with 2:34 left in the period made the score 16-5.

The home standing Tigers lead grew to 22-5 early in the second quarter on an assist from Barnes to  sophomore Montieth Brewer at the 6:45 mark. Brewer came off the bench to score 10 of her 13 points in the second quarter.

Charleston’s Alicia Hudson broke the 10-0 South Panola run with a bucket to make the score 22-7. Hudson lead the Tigers with 19 points in a losing effort.

South Panola took a 31-19 halftime lead when Barnes hit a cutting Brewer to the basket with 43 seconds left before intermission.

The Lady Tigers hit 28-of – 52 shots from the floor in the game for 53 percent while Charleston shot only 41 percent including  eight- for- 18 from the freethrow line.

“They came out in a 2-3 zone to start the game to try and shut us down in the middle, but we hit a few outside shots and then we got a few turnovers and got a big lead at halftime and that was pretty much the game,” said Cole, who finished with 10 points on the night.

The second half was not much better for Charleston as back-to-back three pointers by Barnes and Townsend along with a short jumper by Brewer gave South Panola a 41-23 cushion.Sophomore Chasity Kearney added nine points off the bench in the fourth quarter as the Tigers built a 31 point lead at 69-38 lead with 3:01 left in the game.

Barnes added nine points while Essie Thomas chipped in with five points to round out the scoring.

“We moved the ball around in the first quarter and Sabrina hit some shots that got them out of their zone. Montieth came in there in the second quarter and made some things happen.By then we had them off balance and the (full court) press started kicking in and got some easy baskets,” said Stallings.

“I though Chasity came in and did a good job in the fourth quarter. She is just a sophomore and still learning the game. This is her first year to play varsity ball and she’s got some good year’s ahead of her,” said Stallings.

South Panola did particiapte in the Houston Tournament November 29 and Dec. 1. The Lady Tigers won both with a 67-47 win over Houston Thursday and defeated Caledonia 64-10 on Saturday.

Against Houston Townsend led with 26 points, followed by Cole with 14 and Thomas and Barnes with 10 each.

Against Caledonia Townsend scored 20 points. Cole and Kearney scored 10 each.
The Tigers will host Southaven tonight before traveling to Tupelo Friday for the first district game of the season. Tipoff is 6 p.m.