Pearl River women trounce Gadsden State
Tyler Johnson - PRCC Athletics
POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River women's Basketball team concluded the Microtel Tip-Off Classic on Friday. Pearl River was off and running from the opening tip, defeating Gadsden State 86-36.
"The first thing I told them this morning was that I think we tried to look good instead of playing well yesterday. If you strive to play well, you'll do that and that's what we did today," head coach Scotty Fletcher said. "We let our defense set up opportunities for our offense and everyone was able to contribute tonight."
FIRST HALF
Pearl River (2-0 overall) opened the scoring after Ty'Mesha Reed (Meridian) stole the ball and found Alexis Arrington (Terry) down the court for an easy layup.
The Wildcats continued the scoring through Marcavia Shavers (Biloxi). The center grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back up to convert the putback bucket. Shavers converted a free throw moments later to increase the lead to 5-0. The Cardinals responded with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Leading 24-3 after one quarter of play, Pearl River continued to pile it on through another Shavers layup.
Marcavia Shavers (25) looks for an opening against Gadsden State
After a Cardinal jump shot cut the lead to 26-5, Khyla Ragins (Booneville; Harrison Central) answered with a jumper of her own to extend the lead to 28-5.
J'mani Ingram (North Augusta, S.C.) continued the run by stripping the ball away and converting layups on back-to-back possessions, setting the score 34-5.
Pearl River concluded the half with a sizable 45-16 lead.
SECOND HALF
The Wildcats picked up where they left off to start the second half courtesy of a Halle Traylor (Tupelo) deep 3-pointer. The guard followed it up a possession later with a tear-drop shot to push the lead to 50-16.
With 55 seconds left in the third quarter, Brandy Scott drove into the teeth of the Cardinal defense for a hard-fought layup.
Seconds later, Scott stepped right in front of an errant pass and followed it up with an easy layup to force a Cardinal timeout with the Wildcats leading 65-20.
Pearl River opened the scoring in the fourth as Remi Nickey (Choctaw; Newton County) threaded the needle with a perfect pass, finding Tierra Simon (Houston, Texas; Heights) who drew a foul while laying the ball up and in. The Prairie View A&M transfer converted the subsequent free throw to complete the old-fashioned 3-pointer.
The pair of Simon and Nickey linked up again moments later to increase the lead to 72-21.
Nickey continued to run the offense for the Wildcats, finding Traylor wide-open for an easy three-pointer. The freshman drained a 3-pointer of her own moments later to swell the lead to 78-23.
The Wildcats were never threatened and coasted to an easy 86-36 victory.
LEADING THE CHARGE
Ingram led the Wildcats in scoring with 19 points. She also added four rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
"She didn't let last night faze her and went out there and scored like we know she can," Fletcher said. "That's just who she is and we are going to continue to get her more opportunities and make sure she's comfortable moving forward."
Simon finished with 12 points and led the team with seven rebounds.
Nickey finished with nine points and three assists.
"Remi's spirit is incredible," Fletcher said. "She is one of the most likable teammates you will ever find, and it shows by how much the other girls on this team love her because she's always so positive. I was glad to see the game pay her back tonight with a strong performance."
UP NEXT
The Wildcats hit the road on Thursday against Southern University-Shreveport. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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