Though the South Panola men Tigers coasted through their game 74-48, the Lady Tigers were the victims of the Southaven Lady Chargers Tuesday night.

The Lady Tigers lost 59-48 to go 8-12 overall and 1-3 in district action.

"We had a really nice first half," Lady Tiger head coach Ralph Stallings said. "We got the same shots in the second half but that didn’t help."

Stallings said he took the ball out of the guard’s hands and decided the take the ball inside.

"Our shots just didn’t fall the second half," he said. "We got a lot of fouls and free throws but we didn’t convert them."

Southaven’s Kristin Coleman scored 26 points for the Lady Chargers.

"She was unstoppable," Stallings said. "We fouled her and she went to the line and got her free throws."

The Lady Tigers led 32-30 at halftime after a 22-16 second quarter. Seven Lady Tigers scored in the second quarter to give the team the boost it needed.

South Panola was down 14-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Leading Lady Tiger scorer guard Sabrina Townsend, niece of Pittsburgh Steeler Deshea townsend, scored seven of her 13 points in the second quarter and six in the first quarter.

Other scorers for the Lady Tigers include Shanice Williams and Kim Sanford, 7 points each; Vetorra Cole, 6 points; Jessica Govan and Courtney D. Jones, 4 points each; Sabine Barth, 3 points; Tenisha Mitchell and Skylar Barnes, 2 points each.

Tigers
Joseph Hankins hit 100 percent from the floor Tuesday night as he sank five of five field goals and pulled down three rebounds.

Tiger Rodney Gray was the game high scorer with 21 points, eight rebounds one assist and one steal.

The Tigers led the whole game. At the end of hte first quarter they had a 12-8 lead. Going into halftime, the Tigers led 26-17.

It was a re-energized Tiger team which took the floor for the second half as they outscored Southaven 48-20, scoring 24 points in each quarter.
Tiger head coach Charlie Howard said they could have beaten them worse but he let the whole team play. Eight Tigers scored points.

Two more were in double figures: Jarred Pope, 14 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and Anthony Nelson, 10 points, 4 rebounds.

Also scoring for the Tigers were Cordell Austin, 6 points, 1 each assist, rebound and steal; Justin Vaughn, 5 points, 6 assists, 2 steals; Rod Moore, 4 points, 9 assists, 4 steals; and Shawn Daniels, 4 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 block.

B-Team Tigers
The B-team Tigers won by 14 points and Howard reported that all the guys played well.

Having an especially good game were Antonio Allen, Michael Broadnax, C.J. Raynor and Darius "Tigg" Barksdale."

9th Grade Tigers
The ninth grade Tigers accepted a late invitation to a tournament held in Desoto Central this week.
The Tigers won Wednesday night and played against Thursday night but the outcome was not available at presstime. The final game will be played Saturday night at 6 p.m.

Schedule
The Tigers will be at home tonight to take on J.Z. George in non-conference action. The girls game will begin earlier than usual at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

Tuesday, the Tiger teams will be in Horn Lake for a pivotal district game. The Lady Tigers defeated Horn Lake in the first matchup, but the Tiger men lost.

Tuesday night, the Olive Branch men defeated Horn Lake, 54-48. The Olive Branch girls defeated Horn Lake by one point, 58-57.

While Olive Branch and South Panola were hooping it up last Friday, the Southaven Lady Chargers (13-6 overall, 2-1 district) defeated the Horn Lake Lady Eagles 45-41 in Horn Lake.

In the boys game, Horn Lake rolled to a 64-43 victory over Southaven.

I have been back and forth on the phone and the computer with people about my column Tuesday regarding no South Panola player in the top 40 recruit list.

Some agreed with me but low and behold some disagreed.

I know what you mean. Who would ever disagree with me?

One person on the email suggested I see what , and have to say about D1 (Division 1) recruits.

I ask, why? I know what they say. I have been looking all year long. That doesn’t mean I agree with them.

The thing is that before the season everybody has hyped up certain players to perform. Therefore, they are loathe to change the formula at the end of the season when the hype did not play out to the written script.

So, I am not allowed to question the great recruiting gurus on their choices because the gurus knew from the beginning of the season who are their choices.

According to my knowledgeable liaison who likes to point out that everybody is right but me, I should just get on the boat pointing in this direction and not rock it by trying to get it to turn around.

Some of these players performed for themselves and did nothing for their team so they will get the lucrative college scholarships and everybody else will get whatever or nothing at all.

Most people are not interested in a team thing. They are looking for standout, individual play.

For football? Wrong sport. Football is a team sport.

I had to pull out the facts about the recruits of Olive Branch and Meridian. Between those two teams they scored 17 points against South Panola in three games.

If football was a sport for just individual accomplishment, those teams should have taken the Tigers to the cleaners. Guess who got a reality check.

The email guy said a 5’10" 300 pound lineman is not a D1 prospect and alluded that our guys are too short.

Hello – Derek Pegues, national recruit at 5’9".

Hello – Deshea Townsend, 5’10", of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers who could be playing in the Superbowl if all goes well Sunday.

Yeah! Kerry Hoskins and Kareem Carr of South Panola ate the lunch of Olive Branch receivers in the two games.

They may not be every day giants but on the field they were.

You have to give me better reasons than height for denying really good players.

They really don’t have to give me any reason because they will do what they want. Since they will do what they want, I can disagree with whomever I want.

We do want our guys to know that we support them and believe in them and I thank everybody who took the time to pick up the phone and call in your support.

"And another thing that you wrote in your piece about South Panola being the best in the nation," Michael Jefcoat wrote. "Tell them to prove it. Play some of the schools that are ranked year in and year out. Hoover, Ala. is closer than Moss Point and so is Springdale, Ark., Chattanooga, Tenn. and West Monroe, La. You can’t be the best until you play the best. I know what your answer is going to be. They won’t play South Panola. Heard it before."