By Brad Greer

In a tale of two halves, the North Panola Lady Cougars could not hold on to a 27-19 halftime lead as Lafayette County came storming back to take a 61-53 win in the championship game of the Region 2- 4A tournament Saturday night at Lewisburg.

Despite the loss, North Panola (20-8) advanced to the North 4A tournament where they will host Region 3 third-place finisher Greenwood Wednesday. A victory will put the Cougars into the second round against No.1 ranked and undefeated New Albany Thursday at 4 p.m at New Albany.

The Cougars came out on fire by jumping to a 12-1 lead in the first quarter on a Tearney Wheatley three-pointer and  seven points from senior guard Brittany Patton. Nadashaney Montgomery swished a jumper from the left side to give North Panola an 18-10 lead after one quarter of play.

North Panola maintained its lead in the second quarter when Audrey Taylor, who returned after missing almost two weeks of play with a knee injury, hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw followed by Patton’s two free throws giving the Cougars a 25-15 lead with 1:08 remaining before halftime.

Lafayette County (26-1) began to chip away at the North Panola lead early in the third quarter by going on a 9-2 run thanks in part to a Phylisha Fondren three-pointer and pair of easy layups by Mykira Buford to make the score 29-28 with 5:17 remaining in the quarter.The Commodores took their first lead of the game less than a minute later when Buford popped a 12-foot jumper to give the ‘Dores a 30-29 advantage

North Panola knotted the game at 35 with 1:03 left in the the period on Montgomery’s floater in the lane. Lafayette County responded by scoring the next five points to take a 40-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

Sherneal Thompson’s driving layup coupled with a Buford jumper extended the Commodore lead to 47-41 early in the fourth. Mariah Buford then added a pair of free throws to push the lead to 51-43 at the 4:09 mark.

In a game which saw a combined 47 turnovers and 48 fouls called, North Panola shot 16-of-44 (36 percent) from the field and 16-of-26 from the free throw line. Lafayette County, who ran its winning streak to 14 games, hit 19-of-37 from the floor and 21-of-34 from the charity stripe.

Mykira Buford led the No. 4 ranked Commodores with 17 points while Nikki McChristian added 11.

Patton’s 17 points, four steals and three assists led North Panola. Jenisha Jackson followed with eight points and seven rebounds before eventually fouling out with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter.

Catonya Newsome also chipped in with eight points followed by Taylor with seven. Montgomery and Angelica Davison each registered four while Wheatley and Candance Mottley had three and two points respectively.

North Panola advanced to the championship game with a 55-42 come-from-behind victory over Rosa Fort Thursday night.

Newsom led the way with 20 points and three assists while Patton added 13. Jackson chipped in with nine points to go along with three blocked shots and 16 rebounds. Mottley contributed with six points and three steals. Davison added four points while Montgomery scored three.