Along with a new basketball season, many changes are alsobrought about. Football season is winding down just as basketballtips off. For Brookhaven High and Ridgeland High, changes andhistory were made Tuesday night in James A. Sinclair Gymnasium.

Both schools met for the first time in athletic competition.Ridgeland, from Madison County and in its first year of existence,played their first-ever varsity basketball games. Both Ridgelandand Brookhaven were introducing new head coaches for the firsttime.

The Holmes/Hines era, at Brookhaven got off to a rousing start.The Brookhaven girls and boys brought home two huge

The Lady Panthers, coached by Billy Holmes, opened with a 76-33smashing of the Ridgeland Lady Titans, while the Panthers, coachedby Ronald Hines, ran over Ridgeland 81-38 in the varsity boysnightcap.

Brookhaven travels to Crystal Springs Thursday for atripleheader. The JV boys game tips off at 5 p.m., followed by thevarsity girls game at 6. The varsity boys game is set to begin at7:30.

Ridgeland participates in the Mendenhall Tournament Thursday andSaturday. Their first-ever home game is Nov. 19 against VicksburgWarren Central.

Brookhaven 76, Ridgeland 33

The Lady Panthers (1-0) had first-game jitters coming out of thestart, claiming a slim 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.Ayana Tillman, a 6-foot senior center, scored 6 of her game-high 19points in the period.

The Lady Titans (0-1), coached by first-year head coach WadeHawkins and Jennifer Wilkerson saw sophomore post player MyeshiaJohnson score their first-ever points on a 13-foot jumper from theright wing. That basket gave the Columbia Blue-clad visitors anearly 2-1 lead. Johnson and Shannon Brooks paced Ridgeland with 8points apiece.

“We were nervous at first, first-game jitters,” said LadyPanther head coach Billy Holmes who is serving in his first year atBrookhaven. “We got better as the game went on, but we have a lotof work to do.”

Brookhaven played man-to-man defense throughout the 32-minuteaffair. That defense aided the Lady Panthers in opening the secondperiod with a 14-2 run and carried a 37-17 lead into the halftimelocker room.

“Brookhaven gave us a real dose of what high school basketballis all about,” said Hawkins, a Mississippi State grad and formerhead coach at Humphreys Academy for 10 years.

“We are very inexperienced and had no seniors.”

Holmes’ ballclub maintained a 20-point lead in the second half,entertaining a 60-26 advantage entering the final quarter. All 14players who dressed out played with 11 of those scoring.

Junior guard Tiffany Watkins provided support for Brookhavenwith 12 points and Kristian McCrey added 10.

For Ridgeland, Meghan Brown and Victoria Sims had 7 pointseach.

Brookhaven 81, Ridgeland 38

The Panthers (1-0) led from start-to-finish in picking up the43-point victory. Coach Hines, along with assistant Dan Presley,were pleased to get that first win, but saw a lot of room forimprovement.

“I am happy to get the first win,” said Hines, who came toBrookhaven after a 3-year stint at Raymond. “We didn’t execute likeI thought we would.”

Ridgeland (0-1), coached by Roderick Davidson, kept this gameclose; only trailing 19-8 at the end of the first quarter. BobbyGrace scored the first points for the Titans to tie the game at2-2.

Brookhaven used a 23-5 second period, to claim a 43-13 lead athalftime.

“We did well,” said Davidson. “Turnovers and free throws arewhat hurt us. We are a very young team.”

Davidson came to Ridgeland from Warren Central, where he was anassistant under current Viking head coach and former BHS head coachPreston Wilson.

Hines used his entire bench throughout the game, with a balancedscoring attack. His team carried a 58-27 lead into the finalstanza.

Senior guard/forward Dexter Middleton led all scorers with 15points for Brookhaven. Lamar Hall and Jonathan Pickett had 11points apiece. Brandon Caston pumped in 10 points.

“Take nothing away from Brookhaven, they did a good jobrebounding and blocking out,” added Davidson.

Chislon Thomas led Ridgeland with 10 points.