Lady Tigers take down host Chargers in holiday classic

Published 6:00 am Friday, November 25, 2016

South Panola’s Kaniya Ford wrestles with an Oxford player for possession in Tuesday afternoon action. The Lady Tigers took down the host Lady Chargers in the classic tournament. South Panola returns to action Monday in the Cleveland tournament at 4 p.m.  The Panolian photo by Glennie Pou

South Panola’s Kaniya Ford wrestles with an Oxford player for possession in Tuesday afternoon action. The Lady Tigers took down the host Lady Chargers in the classic tournament. South Panola returns to action Monday in the Cleveland tournament at 4 p.m.
The Panolian photo by Glennie Pou

Lady Tigers take down host Chargers in holiday classic

By Brad Greer
South Panola head girls basketball coach Jemmye Helms did not know what to expect of her young squad at the beginning of the year. But with two weeks into the season, South Panola seems  to be holding their own just fine.
Calling it ‘their smartest played game of the season’ Helms’ Tigers improved to 5-2 with a 45-35 victory over Oxford Tuesday on the final day of the Oxford Lady Charger Classic.
up the two-day tournament Monday with a 56-53 win over Shannon. The Tigers’ only losses this year have been to Kossuth and Horn Lake.
Sydney Morgan poured in a game-high 19 points to lead the Lady Tigers. The senior registered 13 of her points in the first half while knocking down four three pointers in the contest.
“We played a better all around game today then we did against Shannon even though we put up more points. We slowed the pace down when we had to today and took better shots. Another key factor is we turned the ball over 12 times today compaired to 29 yesterday,” said Helms.
South Panola came out smoking in the first quarter as Morgan knocked down a trey while Marshala Doyle and Kaniya Ford added jumpers as the Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead.
The visitors extended their advantage to 13-4 with 1:57 remaining before Oxford closed the margin to 16-11 at the end of one quarter of play.
Oxford got within two at 18-16 as the second quarter got underway as Jordan Freeze drilled a three pointer from the corner. Morgan answered by swishing a three-ball of her own to give South Panola some breathing room at 24-16 at the 3:21 mark. The Tigers took a 28-19 lead at halftime on the pair of freethrows by Chloe Morgan with less than a minute to play.
South Panola went stone cold from the floor as the second half got under way as Oxford outscored the Tigers 8-2 in the third quarter with the only points coming from Chloe Morgan’s two free throws with 53 seconds as South Panola clung to a 30-27 lead going into the final stanza.
“We had games in the past where we went into scoring droughts and never recovered but today we responded with a big fourth quarter and hit some key outside shots,” said Helms.
South Panola regained their composure in the fourth quarter as Sydney Morgan canned two three pointers to go along with a steal and lay up as the Tigers built their largest lead at 43-31 with 3:25 left in the contest.
Ford followed Morgan in scoring with nine points while Doyle added eight. Chloe Morgan finished with four points. Sedria Joy chipped in with three points and Breanna Bland registered two.
The Lady Tigers will be back in action next week as they take part in the Cleveland tournament. South Panola will face off against West Tallahatchie Monday at 4 p.m. before taking on host Cleveland Tuesday at 7 p.m then close out the tournament Thursday at 4 p.m against Ray Brooks.
The South Panola boys meanwhile will follow the girls in the tournament and will face off against the same teams.

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