By Brad Greer

Call it a trap game or whatever you would like.

The North Panola Lady Cougars entered Tuesday night’s opening round of the Region 3-3A district tournament against Winona having already beaten the Tigers twice in the regular season by a combined 74 points.

Led by Teariny Wheatley’s 11 points, North Panola eased past Winona 50-19 and into last night’s second round matchup with  top-seeded Charleston. A victory by the Cougars would put them in tonight’s championship game against host Independence/Byhalia winner at 7 p.m.

A loss however would drop the Cougars into the consolation game at 4 p.m. today against the Independence/Byhalia loser. All four teams remaining will advance to next week’s North State tournament.

North Panola (11-14) jumped to a 13-2 lead midway through the first quarter in a game that was never in doubt.

Angelica Davison added six points in the quarter on a three-pointer and a lay up while Wheatley’s steal and easy lay up ended the period with the Lady Cougars leading 20-5.

Anna Jackson extended the lead to 23-5 early in the second quarter with a three-point play. Davison followed that with a three-pointer at the 3:51 mark for a 28-9 Cougar lead.

Davison scored all of her 10 points in the first half as did Oneisha Hunt with nine points on four of six shooting from the floor.

North Panola led 41-13 at halftime as the second half was playing under a  running clock. Both teams combined for 14 points in the second half.

Takymdris Clay and Jackson finished with five points while Daryleshia Ward contributed with four. Cearea Jackson followed with three points while Whitney Pettis and Tiffany Austin registered two points. Shaquanta Pettis rounded out the scoring with one point.

North Panola ended the night shooting 18-of-36 from the floor for 50 percent but was only 9-of-23 from the freethrow line.

The North Panola boys meanwhile received a first round bye and took on Winona in second round play last night. A win by the Cougars would have put them in tonight’s  championship game  at 8:30 against the Charleston/ Independence winner.

Editor’s Note: In Thursday night action, the Lady Cougars lost to Charleston 42-40 and the boys lost to Winona 50-49. Friday, they will both play in the consolation games. The girls will play at 4 p.m. followed by the boys at 5:30 p.m.