By Myra Bean

Both North Panola basketball teams are 2-1 following losses in the Charleston tournament this week.

The North Panola Lady Cougars fell to Cleveland 58-57 Monday night while the Cougars fell to Charleston Tuesday night.

The Lady Cougars led 33-29 at halftime, but Cleveland outscored the 29-24 in the second half to take the game. The third quarter was non-productive for both teams. North Panola scored eight points, while Cleveland was held to five points.

Jalisa Lyons led the Lady Cougars with 21 points, followed by Ariel Mottely with 16 and Brittany Patton with 10.

Tuesday, the Lady Cougars defeated Charleston 45-30.

Charleston had a one point lead going into the second quarter, 8-7, but the Lady Cougars outscored the Lady Tigers in the second quarter to take a 20-16 lead into halftime.

The Lady Cougars were the dominant team in the second half outscoring Charleston 25-14 for the win.

Leading all scorers were Lady Cougars Patton, 15 points and Catonya Newsom, 11 points.

The Lady Cougars started the season with a 62-31 whipping of Charleston on November 4.

Lyons was the game high scorer with 20 points, followed by Newsome with 15. Mottley scored 11 points for the Lady Cougars.

On the boys’ side, North Panola escaped with a 49-47 win over Cleveland.

At the half, North Panola led 23-20 and outscored Cleveland 16-9 in the third quarter. But Cleveland made some waves in the fourth quarter to catch up and scored on the Cougars 18-10, but the Cougars held on for the win.

Game high scorers were Cougars Aldrick Russell, 24 points and Rodriquez Thomas, 16.

The Cougars opened the season with a 59-40 win over Charleston November 4.

Charleston led at the end of the first quarter 19-14 and mounted a comeback in the second quarter to take a slight 28-26 lead at halftime.

The second half was all Cougars as they outscored the Tigers 31-14.

Thomas was the game high scorer with 25, followed by Russell with 23.

The Cougar teams played Coffeeville last night on the last day of the tournament and will return home next Friday to host Coldwater at 6 p.m. If the football team has  a playoff game, the basketball game will not be played.