Pearl River never trails in rivalry victory at Gulf Coast

PERKINSTON, Miss. — The Pearl River women’s basketball team never trailed in its road victory over rival Gulf Coast 70-55. The Wildcat win was their second consecutive against the Bulldogs.

“We’ve been committed to the small things and tonight I think we showed that. We were focused for 40 minutes, we took better care of the basketball and we made more free throws tonight,” Pearl River coach Scotty Fletcher said. “Our ball movement was better, we attacked gaps the right way and were able to get a lot more assists with our ball movement.”

The Wildcats (2-3 overall; 2-3 MACCC South) started the game on a 7-0 run punctuated by an Otashae Burrage (Carthage; Leake County) 3-pointer before Gulf Coast (1-5 ; 0-5) got on the board. Pearl River didn’t take its foot off the gas, as it extended its lead to 10 points with 5 minutes left in the first quarter.

With 3 minutes left in the first quarter, the Bulldogs went on a run of their own lowering the Wildcat lead to just 4 points before a pair of 3s from Burrage and Brandy Scott (Hammond, La) helped extend the Wildcat lead to 26-14.

Pearl River kept its lead throughout the second quarter entering with a 37-28 advantage.

The Wildcats didn’t let up in the second half, ending the game with a 15-point lead that was capped off by a teardrop basket from Scott.