Lady Tigers take down undefeated Lewisburg

By Brad Greer
A total team effort would best describe the South Panola Lady Tigers thrilling 84-81 double overtime victory over previously undefeated Lewisburg Thursday in Batesville.
Junior point guard Marshala Doyle led South Panola with 27 points, but it was Chloe Morgan who came through in the clutch by scoring five points down the stretch of the second overtime period.
Morgan’s basket gave South Panola an 81-80 lead with 28 seconds left. The senior forward proceeded to sink two free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 84-81 advantage with 13 seconds remaining that ultimately iced the game.
South Panola (2-2) sent the contest into overtime having erased a 52-44 deficit by out-scoring the Lady Patriots 20-12 in the fourth quarter.
Senior Temaye Williams’ back-to-back three-pointers to start the fourth period closed the margin to 54-50. Less than a minute later, Williams’ steal and lay up tied the contest at 56-56.
Doyle sent the game into its first overtime with one of her five steals and layup to knott the game at 64-64 with 1:07 left to play.
Lewisburg (3-1) elected to play for the last shot but threw up an air ball as time expired.
South Panola grabbed a quick 66-64 lead on a pair of Bailey Ware’s free throws only to have The Lady Patriots regain the lead at 67-66 on a Kelsey Fullwood three pointer.
The Lady Tigers would not go away however as Morgan yet again came up with a steal and layup for a 70-69 advantage. Arial Tunstall, who led all scorers with 39 points, drained a three-pointer to put Lewisburg back on top 72-70 with 1:34 left to play.
Yet again South Panola was not going to blink as on the following possession, Ware brought the home crowd to their feet by knocking down a three pointer to put the Tigers up yet again 73-72 with 51 seconds remaining.
The Lady Patriots yet again tied the contest at 73-73 and had a chance at victory but missed two free throws with 2.9 seconds that sent the game into the second overtime.
Another key contributor to the Tigers victory was the play of freshman Chrystal Mayes who came off the bench to score 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Williams tallied 10 points while Ware finished with six for South Panola who shot 49 percent from the floor. Sedria Joy and Takyra Webster added two points each while Aziyah McGhee contributed with one point.
The two teams meet again Jan. 16 at Lewisburg.
SP boys 62, Lewisburg 46
The varsity boys improved to 2-1 on the season with a runaway win over the Patriots.
Kendricus Carlton led the way with a game-high 33 points including 12 in the fourth quarter.
South Panola took a 42-31 advantage into the fourth quarter before Lewisburg closed the gap to 46-40 with 4:44 left in the contest. The Tigers would then go on a 14-0 spurt to put the game out of reach.
Lewisburg coincidently took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter as the Tigers struggled to find their game.
That all changed as the second quartet got underway when Carlton connected on four-of-eight shots from the floor. Keith Cole contributed with five points including a trey to pull South Panola within one point at 18-17 at the 3:21 mark of the first half.
On the following trip down the court, Nick Porter gave South Panola its first lead of the night on a layup with 3:11 left in the half. From there on it was all South Panola as the home team built up a 29-24 lead at intermission.
Deronte Thomas and Shaquille Jackson garnered eight points each while Terriance Jackson added three. Porter and JaMichael Ford chipped in with two points each. Issac Sturdivant garnered one point.