All three Pearl River County high schools return to Division 8-4A play tonight as play heats up with the league tournament just a few weeks away.

Poplarville, coming off a big win over Bay High on Saturday night, travels to St. Stanislaus for a key league encounter.

The Hornets of head coach John Miller moved to 9-6 overall with the 57-56 win over the Tigers and are 2-5 in league play.

Lavelle Henry scored 14 points and hit a free throw with just seconds left to pull out the road win for the Hornets. Justin Raine scored 17 and Ike Bowden added 11 for Poplarville.

The Hornets were coming off a  91-74 loss to Pass Christian on Thursday. Henry had a game high 26 points in that loss.

The Poplarville girls also fell to the Pass, losing 56-25.

Picayune, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to Pascagoula Saturday in the annual Hoopsfest at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

It was the second straight year the Maroon Tide fell to the Panthers in the event.

Picayune is 20-4 overall and still stands in first place in league play at 7-2 and will travel to Bay High tonight for a big league game.

The Maroon Tide, which sandwhiched a win over Long Beach in between losses to St. Stanislaus and Pascagoula last week, fell out of the statewide rankings as conducted by The Clarion-Ledger after the two losses.

The Lady Tide also meets Bay High as they continue to look for their first win of the season.

Pearl River Central also is back in Division 8-4A play tonight, as the Blue Devils travel to Pass Christian for a key game.

The Pirates are ranked fourth in the state by The Clarion-Ledger, and have lost just once at home all season.

PRC is coming off a big win at home over St. Stanislaus on Thursday, and this is the final road league game of the year for the Blue Devils.