POPLARVILLE — Fresh off of two convincing wins inside the friendly confines of White Coliseum, Pearl River's basketball teams will now see what they're made of on the road.
Both teams will travel to Mobile, Alabama, on Thursday to play Bishop State.
The Lady Wildcats will kick things off Thursday with a 5:30 p.m. start. The No. 20 Wildcats are set to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
HOW TO TUNE IN
Carey Meitzler will call the action from Mobile. Wildcat fans can listen online HERE or by downloading the WRJW smartphone app.
Bishop State is also livestreaming the games HERE.
LADY WILDCATS
PRCC's women opened the season on a positive note, defeating Delgado 69-32. The Lady Wildcats held DCC to 29.2 percent shooting from the floor and out-rebounded the visitors 42-18.
Olivia Mosley (Pearl) sparked the home team's offense with a game-high 21 points in her collegiate debut. Jakia Harper (Jackson; Provine) added 10 points for PRCC. Elexis Peyton (Jackson; Provine) led PRCC with eight rebounds, while Maliyah Bullard (Pass Christian) dished out a team-high four assists. Dywana Parker (Gulfport) did a little bit of everything for the Lady Wildcats, finishing her collegiate debut with nine points, seven rebounds, five steals and one blocked shot.
"At the end of the day I thought our girls played extremely hard," coach Scotty Fletcher said after the win. "If we play hard and do the little things, we'll have a chance.
"We have a lot to clean up, but we'll get there."
Bishop State's women are 1-1 after losing to East Central 63-51 and then beating Gulf Coast 74-71.
WILDCATS
Nearly every Wildcat who touched the court scored in PRCC's 98-70 win over Delgado. Cedric Brim Jr. (Tupelo; Shannon) came off the bench to lead PRCC with 18 points and five steals. Langston Powell (Monroe, La.; West Monroe), Chris Agbo (Los, Nigeria) and Brandon Rachal (Natchitoches, La.; Natchitoches-Central) also hit double-figures, scoring 14, 13 and 11 points respectively. Agbo also led the Wildcats with 11 rebounds. Like Parker for the women, Rachal helped the Wildcats in a number of ways. The LSU transfer also collected seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Jonas James III (Jackson; Murrah) led PRCC with nine assists in the win.
With arguably the deepest bench since he's been in Poplarville, coach Chris Oney said they're going to have to figure out what rotation works best for his squad.
"We have to do better when I sub. Those guys have to come in with the same type of intensity to build on the lead instead of become stagnant," he said. "We have guys who were highly thought of before they got here and now they're going to have to come off the bench."
Bishop State's men's squad enters Thursday's contest 0-2 after falling to ECCC 84-69 and MGCCC 83-62.
NEXT LEVEL
Sophomore forward Kirk Parker (Vicksburg) announced on Twitter he has committed to Southern University.
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound forward registered three rebounds and a steal off the bench against Delgado. As a freshman on last year's MACJC championship squad, Parker averaged 6 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest.
BACK IN POPLARVILLE
Pearl River will be back at White Coliseum on Monday, with the women hosting Coastal Alabama-North at 5:30 p.m. and the Wildcats playing the William Carey JV squad at 7:30 p.m.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on Twitter (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).