Nikki Blakely and Juliana Wallace provided a jump-start for theBrookhaven Lady Panthers Tuesday night in Sinclair Gymnasium. Theydirected Brookhaven in 21-point fourth-quarter scoring spree as theLady Panthers beat West Lincoln’s Lady Bears 40-28.

West Lincoln (2-5) had carried a narrow 21-19 lead into thefinal 8 minutes of action. A 15-foot, buzzer-beating baselinejumper by Chastity Avants had given West Lincoln the lead.

Blakely and Wallace both finished with 15 points. Blakely scored11 of her points and grabbed 5 of her rebounds in the final frame.A short jumper off the glass by Blakely gained Brookhaven a 21-21deadlock and her putback pushed the Lady Panthers ahead for good at23-21.

Wallace and Ayana Tillman hit 4 straight free throws to make it27-21 with 5:13 left to play. Wallace added a putback and the leadwas 8 points, 29-21.

“We took it inside the fourth quarter,” said Brookhaven girlscoach Ronald Gill. “We played pretty good the last fiveminutes.”

Gill’s girls evened their record at 5-5 and reduced theirturnover total to 18. West Lincoln, severely undersized on thebackboards, had 22 turnovers.

Sophomore guard Dana King led West Lincoln with 14 points, 6rebounds and 4 assists. Hollie Bass and Jennifer Richardson had 4rebounds.

Center Hannah Payne, the Lady Bears’ tallest player at5-foot-11, was in early foul trouble. She fouled out with 2:33 leftin the game, limited to 1 point.

“Brookhaven has some big ‘ol girls,” said West Lincoln coachJason Case. “Our girls played with a lot of confidence. They playedhard enough to win.”

Tillman led Brookhaven with 9 rebounds. Wallace had 5steals.

West Lincoln held a 9-5 first quarter led on a trey by King. TheLady Bears led 16-15 at halftime on King’s free throw with no timeshowing on the clock.

In the JV game, Brookhaven whipped West Lincoln 42-13,led by Tee Dixon’s 17 points and Tiffany Edwards with11.

Brookhaven hosts McComb Friday night and West Lincolnplays Bogue Chitto in the opening round of the Lincoln CountyTournament at Enterprise.