By Ike House

North Panola basketball took an early jump into district play. The Cougars took on Independence at home and the junior varsity teams won while the varsity ladies fell 37-24 and the boys fell 50-43.

The Cougars are preparing for a big matchup with non-district rival Coldwater today starting at 4 p.m. Fans are asked to white out the stadium.

Lady Cougars, 37-24

The Lady Cougars had a tough game against the Lady Wildcats as they were not connecting on their shots. They had trouble stopping the ball from getting the paint and they could not stop the fast breaks. 

The game went by quickly in the first half. LaErica Spann put up the first points of the game with a quick midrange jumper. The Lady Cougars had trouble after that as they only scored four more points for the remainder of the quarter. The Lady Wildcats put up nine in the quarter and led going into the second. 

In the second the Lady Cougars still had trouble scoring and only landed five points. The Lady Wildcats mustered six points to extend their lead. The Lady Cougars tried their signature press defense but the Lady Wildcats got around it. The Lady Wildcats led going into the half 15-11. 

After the half the Lady Cougars gathered their highest point total for the game as ShaQuanta Pettis hit two back- to-back three-pointers. The Lady Cougars also scored three of four free throws.

Going into the fourth the Lady Cougars went scoreless until 2:31 left in the game when KiTyra Webb hit a layup to end the drought. The spark from Webb would not be enough as the Lady Wildcats pulled away.

Leading the Lady Cougars was Pettis with eight points and seven rebounds. Other scorers were Webb with six points, seven rebounds and a steal. Kianna Willingham had five points, two rebounds and two steals. Jasmine Mays and Spann had two points each. Shanique Burnette had a point, a rebound and a steal. 

Cougars, 50-43

The Cougars seemed the to be in control but they could not pull out a win against the Wildcats in the end. The Cougars jumped out in the first as Jamarcus Jones put the team on his shoulder and scored six points in the first. The Wildcats did not stay behind for long as they tied the game up at 10 before the end of the quarter. 

In the second, five different Cougars scored. Freshmen Davonte Cathey and Mario Fenner Jr. established themselves in the post, having only limited varsity experience. The Cougars tied the game at 25 at the half. 

In the third quarter, Jones took the game into his hands again, scoring eight points in the quarter. The Cougars tried to pull away but could only get a two-point advantage going into the fourth quarter. In the final stanza, the Cougars went into a drought as they could not get to the charity stripe and only had five points in the quarter, while the Wildcats pulled away. 

Leading scorer for the Cougars was Jones with 16 points, six rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist. 

Other scorers include Ankeyvias Harris, four points, five rebounds and a steal; Jarvis Renix, four points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal; and Fenner, four points, eight rebounds, a block and a steal. 

Davonte Cathey had four points, three rebounds, a block and a steal while Demetrick Moore had three points, a block and a rebound. Tremayne Madlock had three points and two steals. Demetrick Porter had two points and two assists to round out the scoring.

JV Lady Cougars, 31-20

The Lady Cougars took care of business easily downing the junior varsity Lady Wildcats 31-20. The game was closely contested at first but was never a struggle for the Lady Cougars. 

The girls had their leader, Shandaruins Clark, take control of the game early and never let go. She led the team in scoring in every quarter. The Lady Cougars were at the free throw line early in the game. They had three trips and went 3-for-5. 

Then Clark and ShaKevia Loveberry hit two big shots to close out the quarter. In the second, Clark put up four more points. The Lady Cougars out scored the Wildcats in the quarter 9-3. The bench came out and played some good minutes as they scored the other five points. 

The Lady Wildcats could not hang in for long as in the second half the Lady Cougars took off and did not look back. The junior varsity scored 15 points in the second half. 

Leading the way for the Lady Cougars was Clark with 14 points. Other scorers were Loveberry with six; Jasmine Mays and Taijah Webb with four each; QuiTonya Webster with two; and Shanique Burnette with one point. 

JV Cougars, 40-26

For the junior varsity Cougars it was not a difficult game as they dominated the junior varsity Wildcats 40-26. 

In the first half, the Cougars jumped out the gate on the Wildcats, scoring 16 points. 

North Panola held the Wildcats to six points in first as the defense of the Cougars was stellar as they crashed the boards for rebounds. The Cougars scored seven points in the second quarter to take 23-15 halftime lead. 

The third quarter was the Cougars best quarter because they scored 13 points and held the Wildcats scoreless. The defense had 14 steals in the game, including eight in the third. 

Sylvonta Oliver scored six of the 13 points in the third. 

In the fourth the Cougars finished off the Wildcats with their defense as the offense only scored four points in the quarter while surrendering 11. 

The Cougars finished the game with Jay’Sean Smith leading the way with 10 points, two steals and a steal. Oliver had six and two steals while Fenner Jr. had eight points.