By Brandon Lee Ward / Special to The Star
The Meridian Star
QUITMAN —
After falling to Newton County on Tuesday, the Quitman Panthers bounced back in a big way Friday, surviving a close game against Laurel. The Panthers beat the visiting Tornadoes 59-53.
“We did a good job on the defensive side of the ball tonight,” said Quitman coach Steve Hampton. “We forced some turnovers and we have done that a lot for the past two weeks. We showed a lot of intensity tonight.”
Quitman jumped into the game without a problem taking an early 7-0 lead within the first two minutes of play. The Tornadoes responded with a field goal and a 3-pointer by Raekwon Pettis in cutting the Panther lead to 9-5. The Tornadoes cut the game down to a one point 13-12 game with 2:14 left in the first after Latrelle Milsan forced himself to the rim. But Quitman pushed the lead back up to 16-12 after Kendrick Pearson, who led the Panthers in scoring with 20, shot any easy 3.
Deshon Bayless responded with an alley oop to end the first quarter with the Panthers still leading 16-14. Laurel tied the game 16-16 for the first time after Pettis hit long field goal early in the second.
Laurel then took the lead and kept it until the latter part of the half, although the Panthers seized a 28-25 lead heading into the break.
Latrelle Milsap opened the second half giving Laurel the lead after hitting two consecutive field goals tallying up the score to 31-28. Laurel kept that control of the scoreboard until Quitman took vengeance and a 39-36 lead with 1:11 left in the third. The Panthers led going into the fourth 39-38.
Hoping to regain the lead, Laurel opened up the fourth with a one-point lead after Jeremy Woods scored from beyond the arc. Woods led the Tornadoes with 13 points. Pettis added nine.
Laurel kept the lead until the final 2:50, when Shaquille Donald made both free throws setting the score 51-50. Laurel then tied the game 53-53 but only temporally as Josh Cannon broke the tie for Quitman with 24 seconds left. Phakezian Walker added a pair of free throws as Quitman improved to 11-12.
Quitman 67
Laurel girls 45
The Panthers stunned the Tornadoes, racing out to an 18-2 lead.
“I thought our hustling was better tonight than it was Tuesday night,” said Panther coach Mike Coleman. “All in all we had a great effort and performance but we need to fix our free throws, I believe we missed eight in a row tonigh,t so fixing our free throws is important”
The Panthers struck the Tornadoes hard and fast putting together that 18-2 run in the first five minutes. Laurel cut the gap by scoring eight unanswered points to trail 18-10 after one. Opening the second quarter Quitman developed a 14-3 run pushing their lead to 32-13 with five minutes to go in the first half.
The Tornadoes struggled by turning over the ball multiple times making it easy for Panther’s Amanda House and Kaci Sisson to make big plays. House and Sission would lead the Panthers in points, by scoring 15 points apiece. The Panthers remained superior heading into the locker rooms with a 38-19 lead.
Quitman put together another successful 11-4 run opening the second half pushing the lead to 49-23. With 2:42 left in the third quarter, Sisson hit one of her three 3-pointers, pushing the Quitman lead to 52-23. The Panthers led 58-29 after the third quarter.
Destiny Henderson hit two consecutive field goals and made two steals opening the final quarter with Laurel trailing 58-33. Henderson paced the Tornadoes with 11 points.
The final quarter was by far the best for the Tornadoes as they began to force turnovers and cut the Panthers lead down to 67-43 with 1:15 remaining in the game.
