By Brad Greer

The North Panola Cougars geared up for two huge District 3-3A battles this week by easily disposing of Water Valley Friday night in the Cougar Den.

In varsity girls action, Teariny Wheatley scored 13 points to lead the Lady Cougars to a 52-30 victory over the Blue Devils. Angelica Davison followed Wheatley in the scoring column with 10 points.

North Panola (9-13) overcome a slow 6-4 start late in the first quarter to take a 23-6 lead at the 3:41 mark of the first half.

Davison’s three-pointer to start the second quarter helped fuel a 17-2 run by the Lady Cougars. Wheatley then converted a three-point play to increase the North Panola advantage to 18-5. The junior guard followed that with a pair of three-pointers to give the Cougars a 31-11 halftime lead.

Cearea Jackson added a pair of field goals in the third period while Candace Mottley nailed a turn-around jumper with 10 seconds remaining to give North Panola  its largest lead of the game, 43-20.

“This was a good win for us tonight,” said Lady Cougar head coach Chris Yancy. “We started off kind of slow there in the first half but picked things up in the second quarter. We have got two big district games coming up next week and right now I’d like to think we are playing pretty decent basketball. “

North Panola is currently 4-4 in district play and in third place behind Independence and league leading Charleston. The Cougars will host Winona tonight at 6 p.m. then travel to Independence Friday to close out the regular season.

“We are right in the thick of the district race and all season long we have been trying to get over the hump so hopefully we can close out the season with two big victories,” said Yancy.

Jackson followed Davison and Wheatley with eight points while Mottley added seven. Takymdris Clay and Whitney Pettis chipped in with four points each. Daryleshia Ward and Tiffany Austin finished with two points.

In varsity boys’ play, North Panola picked up their fourth win in a row with a 58-31 romp. Jerotney Kelson paced the Cougars with 15 points. Ketwun House followed with 12 points while Donte Howard and Darrius Jackson registered 11 and 10 points.

North Panola (11-10, 7-1) led 11-7 after one quarter of play before extending the lead to 29-16 at intermission. Kelson reeled off six straight points midway through the third quarter to make the score 38-19. The Cougar lead quickly grew to 42-22 when House connected on a soft floater in the lane with 1:51 remaining.

Other scorers included Robert Oliver and Terrance Kirkwood with three points while Devonte Howard and Xavier Brown provided two points.

North Panola stands atop the division standings with a 7-1 record and can clinch the No. 1 seed in next week’s district tournament at Independence with a victory over Winona tonight.