West Lincoln took home two trophies on Friday night as the teams from Flea Hop both finished unbeaten at the Lincoln County Tournament hosted by Bogue Chitto.

Both teams from Loyd Star finished with 2-1 records in the tournament as both Bogue Chitto teams had identical 1-2 records and both Enterprise teams finished 0-3 on the week.

The West Lincoln girls (7-2) were the favorites before the tournament began and they played like it as they won their three games by an average of 34 points. On Thursday they beat host Bogue Chitto 50-20 and on Friday they wrapped up the title with a 62-14 win over Enterprise. Bailey Wilson scored a team high 11 points in the Bogue Chitto win and senior guard Skylar Hall led the team with 15 points against Enterprise.

The West Lincoln girls also played a special game on Saturday when they hosted AHSAA 7A Mountain Brook (Alabama).

Mountain Brook (9-2) is coached by West Lincoln alum John London. London was part of two state title teams in the early 80s for the Bears and also has a son Corey who played for Copiah-Lincoln Community College in the early 2000s. 

The Lady Bears lost 58-55 but played well against a Mountain Brook team that hails from the Birmingham suburbs and has a population in grades 10-12 of over 1,000 students. With four minutes remaining the game was tied at 48 before Mountain Brook secured the victory. Hall scored a team high 23 points to lead West Lincoln.

The West Lincoln boys (5-4) won the tournament on the opening night when they beat Loyd Star 63-54. On Thursday and Friday, the Bears cruised to a 58-27 win over Bogue Chitto and a 61-35 beating of Enterprise. Senior Garrison Coffey was the high scorer for West Lincoln on Thursday and Friday as he notched 15 points in both victories.

The Loyd Star girls (5-6) bounced back from their Tuesday loss to West Lincoln and beat Enterprise 42-22 and Bogue Chitto 40-33. Sarah Britt led the Lady Hornets with 14 points in the win over Enterprise and Aubrey Britt scored a team high 10 points in the Bogue Chitto win.

Loyd Star coach Christi Terrell sees her team improving with each game.

“We are improving in a different phase of the game each time we play,” said Terrell. “Consistency is something we’re still struggling with, but the girls are playing harder every game and hustling.”

The Loyd Star boys had no problems in their final two games as they beat Enterprise 65-28 and Bogue Chitto 60-35. Jett Calcote scored 16 against Enterprise and Zabien Price led the Hornets with 14 against Bogue Chitto.

Enterprise head coach Shane Adams wants to see his crew play with more confidence. The boys are currently in a five-game losing streak after winning three of their first four games this season.

“We’ve gotten really good shots the last few games, but for whatever reason they aren’t falling,” said Adams. “We can’t let that affect us. Our effort hasn’t been bad, but the shots that were falling earlier in the season aren’t now. We’re young and still learning and growing.”

Bogue Chitto girls’ coach Robby Walters knows his girls can shoot the ball better as well.

“We played very hard defensively, but we turned the ball over too many times and we seemed too tight to be effective offensively,” said Walters.

The four Lincoln County rivals will all play each other at least two more times as they are all members of the same region. There are also possibilities for a fourth meeting when factoring in the district tournament.

Bogue Chitto travels to play Salem tonight, Enterprise is on the road at West Marion, Loyd Star hosts Wesson, and West Lincoln hosts South Pike tonight.

Story by Cliff Furr