By Angie Ledbetter

As one of the biggest in-school rivalries, the Batesville Junior High basketball teams hosted neighboring Pope Bulldogs Thursday night.

The BJH seventh grade boys downed Pope 21-12 in the first game of the night.

The Tigers outscored Pope 13-7 in the first half and 8-5 in the second half.

Scoring for the Tigers were Katrell Key, six; Eli Wilson, five; Akira Ray, three; Kevin Cartwright, Ernest Sanford and Randy Hunt, two points each; and Antonio Harris, one.

Scoring for Pope were Chapelle Butler, seven; Jamian Johnson, three; and Jeremy McGee, two.

8th Grade Girls

In the only girl game of the night the Lady Tigers had no problem handling the Lady Bulldogs in a 19-6 win.

It was a low scoring first half with BJH taking a 6-2 lead into halftime.

It was the second half of the game that made the difference as the Lady Tigers outscored Pope 13-4.
Jasmine Wright was the leading scorer with seven points for the Lady Tigers.

Other scorers include Alexis Smith, six; Ta’Haira Bean, four; and Caroline Dickins, two.

Scoring for Pope were Madison Morgan and Breanna Bland, two points each; Amber Helmes and Madalyn Hawthorne, one each.

8th Grade Boys

The biggest game of the night was the eighth grade boys’ game as the fans got excited supporting their teams.

The Tigers won the game 24-18 over Pope in a heated battle.

In the first half Pope went on a 6-0 run. The Tigers tied the game at six when Oluwain Hoskins made two free throws with 4:10 left on the clock.

The Tigers took an 8-6 lead on Hoskins’ basket but the Pope regained a 9-8 lead when Juandria McMurry completed a three-point play with a free throw with 1:09 remaining.

Pope took a slight 11-10 lead into halftime.

The Tigers started the second half on a 7-0 run to take a 17-11 lead with 5:10 left in the game.

Pope pulled within three leading 19-16.  With a little over one minute left the Tigers started to pull away outscoring Pope 5-2 at the end for the win.

The leading scorer was BJH’s Jaylin Ford with nine points.

Other Tiger scorers include Donald Twilley, five points; Hoskins, four; Jordin Smith, three; Kennon Johnson, two; and Kasey Hankin one.

Scoring for Pope were Johnathan McMurray, seven points; Demetrius Wright, four; Stevon Hill, three; Tyler Pogue and Stacy Chapman, two each.

The teams will meet in a rematch today at 5 p.m. at Pope to wrap up the season for both teams.