It was right back into basketball and right back into Region 7-2A play for homestanding Bogue Chitto and their visiting county and region rivals from West Lincoln on Friday.

In the opening girls’ game, West Lincoln overcame a slow start to earn a 43-31 win. The boys’ game was all about the Bobcats as Bogue Chitto won 82-43.

The win moves the West Lincoln ladies and head coach Lane Young to 13-5 on the season. The Bears started the season off with three straight losses to North Pike, Pisgah, and Enterprise.

There is lots of experience on the roster, as West Lincoln returned three starters, and the team has improved throughout the season, but there was some rust early on as it was the first game since West Lincoln waxed Jefferson County 62-37 back on Dec. 17.

Bogue Chitto led 6-4 after the first quarter after going up 4-0 to start the game as the pace was ragged at the outset, with both battling a rash of turnovers.

The West Lincoln offense began to click in the second quarter and the Bears went up for the first time 8-6, when senior point guard Maggy James banked in a 3-pointer in front of the home bench.

West Lincoln led 19-8 at halftime.

“We didn’t have many field goals in the first half, I don’t think we made one in the first quarter,” said Young. “We hit some free throws though and then in the second half we started to look a little more comfortable.”

The Bears made four total shots from the field in the first half. Sophomore forward Kylie Jarancik scored six of the 15 points put up by West Lincoln in the second quarter.

Jarancik and James started on Friday along with junior wing Chloe Sterling, junior forward Elizabeth Burton and senior wing Emma Quin.

Sterling led the way for West Lincoln with 18 points in the win. A varsity contributor since her freshman season, she scored 14 points in the second half on Friday as the Bears fought off a Bogue Chitto comeback attempt.

BC junior wing Destinee Thompson knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the third quarter that made the score 25-21 for WL and had BC head coach Marc Howard calling a timeout to give his team a breather after a quick 5-0 run.

The Bobcats crept even closer, making the score 29-27 after Thompson made a pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter.

That would be it though, as West Lincoln closed the game on a 14-4 run to pick up the win.

Jarancik finished with eight points and James scored five points. Burton scored six points as did West Lincoln eighth grade forward Ja’Kayla Hunter.

The 5-foot-10 Hunter plays with a physicality that is beyond her years. Her four free throws in the first quarter were the only points of the opening eight minutes for West Lincoln.

She rebounds, blocks shots, and provides size inside and depth in the rotation. Rainee Martin is another eighth grader that Young used off the bench.

The West Lincoln junior high team, made up of seventh and eighth graders, had an undefeated season that saw them dominating their local competition in 2024.

Young said the younger players have been playing and practicing against the upperclassmen since the summer and it’s been beneficial to everyone.

“I knew I was going to move the younger girls up when their season finished and they’ve been practicing against the high school all year,” said Young. “I think it’s been good for both of them, it’s made the younger group learn how to get tougher and it’s given us some good competition in practice. You sometimes worry about how a team will mesh when you have younger and older players coming together like that, but there is a real closeness with them that’s been enjoyable to coach.”

Sophomore Gabriella DeLaune also came in as a substitute for West Lincoln on Friday and junior forward Addi Myers is in the rotation as well but is currently out with a hand injury.

West Lincoln went 18-8 last season in Young’s return to Flea Hop after his time spent serving as an assistant coach for his dad, Gwyn Young, at Copiah-Lincoln CC in Wesson.

Last year the Bears beat Lake 33-26 in the first round of the 2A playoffs and then got the short end of some questionable calls at Pelahatchie in a 47-46 loss in the second round.

West Lincoln still has eight games remaining over the next month, with all but one (MS School for the Deaf) being a Region 7-2A matchup. They’ll then play in the region tournament and the potential is there for a solid playoff run when the 2A postseason rolls around.

One strength of the team is how well they guard, with solid size and communication that helps eat up space on the court. They can also speed the tempo up a little with some full court trapping that creates scoring opportunities, as it did late on Friday against the Bobcats.

“We’ve just got to keep working and keep getting some more experience for the girls in our rotation,” said Young. “I thought in the second half, we started to look like we did back when we were playing our best before the break. We are still having a lapse here or there defensively that I’d like to see us clean up. We need to shoot the ball better too, but that’s something we can keep working on over these next couple of weeks.”

Thompson led Bogue Chitto with 12 points. The Bobcats also got 11 points from senior point guard Neeli Magee. Kilanah Haynes scored three points, Meghan Richardson scored two points, Kinley Wisinger scored two points, and Layla McKnight rounded out the BC scoring with one point.

Bogue Chitto (7-9) did play over the holiday break, losing 49-46 to McComb and 51-41 to Brookhaven High in the McComb High Tournament on Dec. 27-28.

Foul weather prevented Bogue Chitto from getting both games in for its boys team at that MHS Tournament.

Howard and his Bogue Chitto boys’ squad whipped McComb 64-34, but the game against Brookhaven High ended up being cancelled. That game will be made up at BHS on Jan. 25 with junior varsity boys beginning at 5 p.m. and a varsity boys’ game to follow it.

The Bobcats had seen a six-game winning streak broken on Dec. 19 when they lost 71-68 at Franklin County.

On Friday the Bobcats led the Bears 25-6 after the first quarter and 52-15 at halftime.

Bogue Chitto was led by forward Randy Crisler with 23 points. Crisler scored 15 points in the first half. Senior point guard Devonta “Bam” Thompson had 17 points and senior wing Shakell Jenkins added 14 points. Noah Magee scored eight points for the Bobcats, as did Jayden Poole. Hayden Avants scored four points, Quay Hampton scored three points, Carter Harveston scored three points, and Tripp McCaffrey scored two points for Bogue Chitto.

Bogue Chitto (12-3) will play at Amite County on Jan. 10.

West Lincoln (9-9) and coach Jay Case were led by senior guard Dereon Eley with 14 points. Senior guard Jay Fells added 10 points while senior guard Amais Smith scored nine points. Sophomore Maddux Johnson added eight points and sophomore Da’Quavion Lewis rounded out the WL scoring with two points.

The Bears will return the matchup and host Bogue Chitto on Jan. 21 in Jack Case Gymnasium.