MAGNOLIA-Lawrence County and South Pike split a Division 7-4A basketball double-header Tuesday night, at the South Pike Coliseum. In girls’ play, Janice Felder’s Lady Eagles improved to 15-4 overall, and 3-0 in the division, with a 49-28 win. In boys’ action, Pat Bridges’ LCHS Cougars led for almost the entire game, winning 42-36.

In the girls’ game, South Pike led for virtually the entire game, but Lawrence County stayed within striking distance. When the Lady Cougars’ Jada McDuffey scored midway through the fourth quarter, she cut South Pike’s lead to four points, at 30-26.

After that, however, the Lady Eagles went on a 19-2 run to end the game. Nakaylis Washington scored 15 of her game-high 20 points in the second half, leading the Lady Eagle onslaught. Dynamic point guard Kaletron Baker scored all 11 of her points after the intermission.

The points were hard to come by all night long for the Lady Cougars. McDuffey accounted for almost half of the offense with 13 points. No other LCHS player tallied more than 4. Camryn Davis led Lawrence County in rebounding with 10. Zipporah Baylis had 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

“We were in the game, and just imploded in the last four minutes,” said Lady Cougar mentor Vicki Rutland. “Hats off to South Pike. They do a great job defensively, but we had our chances. We’ll try them again at our place in a couple of weeks.”

Lawrence County was victimized by 24 turnovers in the game. The Lady Cougars fell to 10-9 overall, and 2-2 in Division 7-4A play.

The boys’ game was similar to the girls’ contest, except that Lawrence County led for virtually the entire game. The Cougars led by as many as 8 points in the first half, but South Pike twice trimmed that lead down to 1 point in the third quarter. The Cougars ultimately won, in spite of some atrocious second-half free-throw shooting.

Keith Davis led Lawrence County with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists. Keyshawn Feazell added 12 points and 8 rebounds. Gabriel Lewis had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals, along with his 5 points.

“I thought we defended well for the most part,” said LCHS coach Pat Bridges. “Any road win you get in the division is a good win. South Pike played hard. They did a good job.”

Joe Taylor’s Eagles were led by Christopher Lewis, who scored 14 points. Tavorious Williams added 8.

Lawrence County improved to 12-8 overall, and 3-1 in the division. South Pike dropped to 5-14 overall, and 0-3 in division play. The Eagles’ three division losses have been by a total of 11 points.

Lawrence County will return home Friday to host division rival North Pike.