QUITMAN – Wayne County swept past Lawrence County in both girls’ and boys’ play in high school basketball action Saturday evening in Quitman. In girls’ action, Wayne County handled Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars by a 53-31 score. In the boys’ game, the War Eagles rolled to a comfortable 71-48 win.

The Wayne County girls took advantage of Lawrence County’s inexperienced backcourt and created 37 Lady Cougars turnovers. The Lady War Eagles rolled to a 30-10 halftime advantage in running their record to 1-1 on the young season.

Chrisquisa Matthews led Wayne County with 10 points. Lawrence County freshman Haven Johnson shared scoring honors with Matthews. All 10 of Johnson’s points came from the free throw line, in 14 attempts. Johnson also had five steals. The Lady Cougars fell to 1-3 with the loss.

“It wasn’t all bad,” said Lady Cougar coach Vicki Rutland, whose girls have advanced to the South State tournament five years in a row. “We’ve obviously got turnover issues against full-court pressure, but I thought we executed pretty well as the game went on. We’re working on it every day.”

The LCHS boys met a similar fate, as the incredibly youthful and experience-starved Cougars drew a tough assignment against the perennial 5A contender. The War Eagles roared to a 45-27 lead, then cruised to a relatively comfortable win. Three players combined for 56 of Wayne County’s points.

Keith Davis led Lawrence County with 12 points and five rebounds. Keyshawn Feazell, the Cougars’ 6’7″ freshman center, added seven points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots.

“We did some good things,” said LCHS mentor Pat Bridges, “and the effort was very good. We’ll keep working to try and get better, but the main thing is to get some varsity minutes under our belts. Very few of our guys have effort faced the type of pressure that Wayne County can put on you.”

Lawrence County will travel to Crystal Springs on Tuesday night, and host West Jones on Friday.