MONTICELLO – Lawrence County swept Purvis in an opening-night Division 7-4A basketball double header Friday night at LCHS. Vicki Rutland’s girls were in control from the outset cruising to a 37-21 win. Pat Bridges boys’ rode a hot-shooting first half to a relatively easy 68-53 win.

In the girls’ game, Lawrence County limited Purvis to just 10 points through three quarters and was never seriously threatened. The Lady Cougars led 34-10 entering the final period.

DeNeisha Dickson led all scorers with 10 points. Freshman Camryn Davis added eight points and a game-high seven rebounds. Zipporah Baylis and Jada McDuffey had six points each. Baylis grabbed four steals. Haven Johnson had four points, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

The Purvis girls, led by veteran senior point guard Samantha Sattler, gave it a stubborn effort but simply couldn’t score against the LCHS defense. Sattler led the Lady Tornadoes with eight points. Purvis fell to 7-10 overall and 0-1 in the division. Coaching the Purvis girls this season is John Ishee, a 20-year veteran of the women’s college coaching ranks.

The Lady Cougars improved to 9-7 overall, and 1-0 in Division 7-4A play. The win was Lawrence County’s sixth in its last eight games.

“We defended well,” Rutland said. “I thought our girls again played with great energy, and we moved the ball pretty well on offense. This was a good way to open our division season.”

In the boys’ game, the Cougars were faced with the daunting challenge of trying to slow down dynamic Purvis point guard David Davis, one of Mississippi’s top scorers over the last two seasons. Lawrence County’s Gabriel Lewis drew that assignment for most of the game, and he defended very well. Davis ended up with 23 points, a total well below his average.

As for the Cougars, the duo of Lewis and Phillip Moore combined for 18 first-quarter points. Lawrence County led 24-9 after the first period. The two teams played evenly after that, though Purvis was never able to cut the Lawrence County lead to single digits.

Keith Davis led Lawrence County with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Lewis added 14 points, seven assists and a Herculean defensive effort. Moore had 12 points and eight assists. Keyshawn Feazell added seven points and six rebounds.

Davis’ 23 points led all scorers. He and Josh Woodson, who tallied 18, combined for 41 of Purvis’s 53 points. The Tornadoes fell to 8-9 with the loss.

Pat Bridges’s Cougars improved to 10-6 overall and 1-0 in the division. Lawrence County finished second to state 4A champion McComb in the Division 7-4A standing last season.

“I was proud of the way we defended Davis,” Bridges said. “He’s a handful. Offensively, we shot the ball really well in the first half to get the lead. We passed the ball really well tonight. A lot of our baskets came off assists.”

Lawrence County will host Columbia in division action on Tuesday.