Lady Devils defeat OLA in 45-9 rout, PRC boys fall to St. Stanislaus
Published 7:00 am Thursday, February 5, 2015
The Pearl River Central Blue Devils boys’ and girls’ basketball squads hosted games against Our Lady Academy and St. Stanislaus on Tuesday night.
The Lady Devils dominated OLA while St. Stanislaus returned to Bay St. Louis with a victory over the PRC boys.
In the boys’ game, the Rock-a-chaws did the bulk of their damage in the first half behind the arc with seven three-pointers. Stanislaus guard Jerrod Rigby hit back-to-back three-pointers in the first quarter to give his team an early lead, and then opened up the second quarter by sinking his third three-pointer of the game.
PRC trailed by double digits at halftime, but remained within striking distance in the second half thanks to the impressive play of senior guard Alex Travis. Travis had nine points in the third quarter and helped the Blue Devils cut the Stanislaus lead to single digits, but back-to-back three pointers from the Rock-a-chaws stifled the PRC rally.
The Blue Devils were still alive when the fourth quarter started and again managed to cut the Stanislaus lead to single digits, but the shots stopped falling at the worst possible time for PRC. The Rock-a-chaws opened up a 16-2 scoring run in the final quarter that ended when PRC’s Donte Stephens dunked with only seconds remaining in the game. The effort was too late to make a difference, and PRC lost to Stanislaus 59-40.
In the girls’ game, the Lady Devils found very little trouble in their match-up against OLA. Back-to-back three pointers from junior guard Claire Lumpkin and nine points from sophomore guard Kayla Ryan helped the PRC girls jump out to a 22-3 first quarter lead.
The Lady Devils did not allow a single point in the second quarter and extended their lead with a balanced attack led by senior guard Brandi Lee.
In the second half, PRC Head Coach Tony LaBella played his younger players and adjusted to a very conservative gameplan. The Lady Devils won 45-9 and improved to 16-9 on the season.
PRC will take on Brookhaven High School in a district game this Friday night in Carriere. The girls tip-off at 6 p.m. and the boys will play at 7:30 p.m.