By Angie Ledbetter

The South Panola Tigers saw their basketball season come to an end when they fell to Tupelo 71-47 in the first round of the district tournament Tuesday night in Starkville.

The No. 4 seeded Tigers faced No. 1 seeded Tupelo in the district.

Jakerion Ales led his team with 20 points and was 12 of 13 from the free throw line. Chad Rudd followed with 10 points and shot four of five from the free throw line. DeAndre Harris added nine points, James Watson four, Carlton Howard two and Keenon Hentz two.

The Tigers shot 73 percent from the free throw line while the Golden Wave shot 45 percent.

Tupelo had 10 players who scored. Tupelo jumped to an eight point lead to start the game and had a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Tigers continued to struggle and were outscored 29-6 in the second quarter as Tupelo took a 44-15 halftime lead.

The second half went to the Tigers when they scored 16 points in the third and 16 in the fourth while the Golden Wave added 18 in the third and nine in the fourth.

On February 1, the Tigers traveled to Madison Central and fell 56-49.

The Tigers led 33-30 at halftime after scoring 11 in the first and 22 in the second while the Jaguars scored 13 in the first and 17 in the second.

In the third quarter, the Tigers still led 41-36 outscoring Madison Central 8-6.

The fourth quarter was the deciding factor as Madison Central outscored the Tigers 18-8 to take the lead and the win.

Scoring for the Tigers were Rudd, 13 points; Harris, 12; Watson, 8; Matarus Bobo, 6; Ales, 5; Jaylen Lee, 3; and Howard, 2. The Tigers shot 58 percent from the free throw line while the Jaguars shot 50 percent.

The Tigers finished the season 7-12 overall and 1-7 district.