The No. 2 seeded West Lincoln Bears and Lady Bears are on theirway to the semifinals of the Division 7-1A Basketball Tournamentafter posting lopsided victories Monday night over the No. 7 seededSalem Wildcat teams in Enterprise’s gymnasium.

The West Lincoln boys overcame an early 9-2 deficit to put awaySalem 101-48 and the Lady Bears eliminated the Lady Wildcats by 32points, 59-27.

Today’s games feature the No. 3 Bogue Chitto girls vs. No. 6Dexter at 4 p.m., the No. 6 Enterprise boys vs. No. 3 Dexter at5:30, the No. 4 Enterprise girls vs. No. 5 Natchez Cathedral andthe No. 4 Bogue Chitto boys vs. No. 5 Cathedral at 8:30.

Thursday at 4, the West Lincoln girls meet the BogueChitto-Dexter winner and the Bears square off against theEnterprise-Dexter winner at 5:30.

West Lincoln 101, Salem 48

The West Lincoln boys (17-7) led Salem 27-16 in the firstquarter. At halftime, the Bears commanded a 50-26 lead over theWildcats. A 28-4 scoring spree in the third quarter gave WestLincoln a lopsided 78-30 advantage going into the final frame.

With 40.6 seconds left to play and the West Lincoln fanscheering, reserve Brett Rushing netted a pair of free throws togive the Bears a 101-45 lead.

“Salem made some tough shots to start the game,” said WestLincoln coach Lane Young following the win. “Our kids on offenseand defense, picked it up in the second quarter. We couldn’t miss ashot in the second half.”

The Bears got 20 points apiece from Shane Lynch (including 5treys) and Jeremy Byrd. Scoring 11 points (including 3 treys) wasSawyer Wallace followed by Bradleigh Rice with 10.

The Wildcats, coached by Kenneth Murphy, were led by ShannonRatliff with 16 points. Garreth Murphy fired in 14 points followedby Aaron Gaines with 10.

West Lincoln 59, Salem 27

Candy Herring powered the Lady Bears (17-7) with a game-high 22points. Britnee Smith netted 13 points. Herring led in the firsthalf with 16 points and Smith with 12. Both players scored 10points apiece in the second quarter.

West Lincoln went up 13-9 in first-quarter play and pushed thelead to 35-14 at the half. An 18-3 third-quarter run gave the LadyBears a 53-17 lead going into the final frame.

“We are still slow starting out on offense and defense,” statedYoung. “After the first quarter, we pushed it up and played betteron both ends.”

Leading the Salem girls with 12 points was Shieka Quinn.