SP gives Tupelo a battle but still falls short of win

By Brad Greer
At first glance, Tupelo’s 83-65 Region 2 6A win over the South Panola  Lady Tigers Friday looked like a piece of cake but as it turned out it wasn’t a walk in the park.
On several occasions, the Golden Wave found themselves holding a seemingly comfortable double digit lead only to have a gritty South Panola squad cut the disadvantage to under ten points.
But in the end the tough, physical battle was too much for the Lady Tigers to overcome as Tupelo pulled away in the fourth quarter to improve their record to 3-0 in district and 16-4 overall.
Both teams came out the gate smoking in a fast paced first quarter which saw  by South Panola take a 8-2 lead before Tupelo responded with a 20-4 run late in the stanza before the Lady Tigers regrouped to close the margin to 24-16.
Tupelo extended its lead to 34-16 midway through the second quarter before the Tigers ended the half on a 16-7 spurt to 43-32 at intermission. Sydney and Chole Morgan led the South Panola charge with four points each while Ty’Quera Victom banked in a three pointer in the closing seconds.
Marshala Doyle reeled off seven straight points as the Lady Tigers cut the margin to 43-39 as the second half got underway. Doyle paced South Panola in scoring with 15 points.
Tupelo responded with a 15-5 spurt  to take a 58-44 lead late in the period behind a game-high 25 points from Alayjah Sherer.
The Golden Wave began to pull away in the fourth quarter as the Lady Tiger starters fouled out of the game.
South Panola shot 41 percent from the floor and 8-of-15 from the free throw line. Temaye Williams followed Doyle in scoring with 10 points.
Chole Morgan added nine points while Kaniya Ford chipped in with eight. Tracie Benson garnered six with Sydney Morgan and Sedria Joy contributing four points. Breanna Bland, Takyra Webster and Breanna Johnson finished with two points each.
The Junior Varsity Tigers also fell in a close game by the score of 12-10 with Webster leading the way with six points followed by Victom’s four points.
Tupelo (boys)-70 South Panola-58
Nick Ratliff led Tupleo with 17 points as the No.9 ranked Golden Wave pulled away from South Panola in the second half after leading 28-25 at halftime.
Just as their varsity counterparts, the South Panola boys  came out firing in the first half as Ernest Sanford and Montray Blackburn connected on two three pointers each while Shaquille Jackson nailed a trey to give the home team an early 19-15 lead after one quarter.
The Tigers quickly cooled off as the second quarter got underway by missing numerous baskets at point blank range along with wide open three point attempts.
Tupelo held South Panola to six points in the period while taking their first lead at 22-21 with 2:14 remaining in the half. The Golden Wave defense held Tiger leader scorer Kendricus Carlton to one basket in the first half.
Carlton rebounded in the second half with 17 points and seven rebounds to pace the Tigers who fell to 6-5 and 1-2 in district play. Sanford chipped in with 15 points and four steals while Blackburn added 12 points.
Ketrell Key garnered five points and three steals with Davonte Cathey rounding out the scoring with four points and four boards.
The South Panola Junior High boys came away with a exciting victory 28-26 as Markevious Vaughn went coast to coast for a layup with two seconds remaining to give the Tigers a victory
Deronte Thomas paced South Panola with 11 points while Vaughn added four. Chris Gaston, Stanwon Porter and Detierriye Reed posted three points. Keith Cole also added two points.
South Panola will be back in action tonight as they host Lake Cormorant beginning at 5 p.m. with the Junior Varsity girls contest.