By Angie Ledbetter

The South Panola Lady Tigers basketball team hosted Independence Tuesday night at home and came away with a 63-39 victory to remain undefeated after three games.

They were on the road for the first game on November 4 at Senatobia and won 66-44. Chasity Kearney was the leading scorer with 24 points, Vetorra Cole added 19 and Skylar Barnes put up 12.

“We made a lot of first game mistakes,” said Lady Tiger head coach Ralph Stallings. “The press worked real well for us and we were able to force a lot of turnovers. We made a lot of first game mistakes but I thought overall it was a pretty well played game for the first game. Probably didn’t execute as well as we would’ve liked to have. We didn’t do as good on the defensive end and gave up some threes to them.”

Two nights later they traveled to Grenada and won 51-37. Victoria Cole lead with 23 points, Chasity Kearney added 12 and Skylar Barnes put up 10.

“The game with Grenada was a replay of the first one. The big difference was the press. We were able to force them into a lot of turnovers. They were so big and we didn’t match up well with them on the defensive end so we had to try to stretch it into a full court battle.”

In Tuesday’s game, Kearney had a big night putting up 28 points and Cole added 14.

“Coming into tonight’s game, it was a lop sided thing. We started out horrible,” said Stallings. “I think it was a playing at home jinx. We play better on the road. The first half was a lot of individual playing and they played more as five individuals than they did as a team. We addressed that issue at halftime and talked about the team aspect of it. I told them that individuals might win a game or two but not a championship. We didn’t shoot the ball well from the free throw line tonight which was disappointing because we had done real well the first two games.”

The Lady Tigers scored 17 points in the first quarter, 11 in second, 25 in third, and 10 in the fourth.

“Something must have sunk in for the third quarter. We came out and scored 25 points and basically took over the game from that point. We got off the focus of individual stats and got it back on the win. I was proud of the turn around that we made for the team aspect of it.

“Chasity Kearney, Vetorra Cole and Skylar Barnes have been pretty well consistent as the leading scorers for us.”

“I’m excited that the team has been able to score several points in the season’s starting games.”