ELLISVILLE, Miss. — Pearl River played shot for shot at No. 5 Jones College early Thursday but things snowballed on the visitors in the second half as the Lady Bobcats claimed an 81-53 victory.
"I thought we played a little bit too fast tonight for them. That's the way they want to play and that was not our game plan. Even though we were in it in the first half, that can be fool's gold," PRCC coach Scotty Fletcher said. "… I thought our girls fought for 40 minutes. We're going to get better from this."
PRCC fell behind 12-5 but went on a run late in the first quarter. Mychala "Pooh" Linzy sank three free throws with four seconds left to tie the game 19-19.
The Lady Wildcats (13-6 overall, 6-4 MACJC) came out motivated in the second half and a 3-pointer from Gabby Brown (Fort Walton Beach, Fla; Choctaw) gave the visitors a brief 24-21 advantage.
Although JC (18-1, 10-0) proceeded to go on a run, PRCC didn't relent. Several 3s by Linzy and a big put-back from Meah Monroe (Reserve, La.; East St. John) pulled PRCC within one, 33-32. JC continued to answer with 3s of its own and took a 40-35 advantage into halftime.
The Lady Wildcats kept pace for a while in the second half, but Jones College built a 10-point advantage, 47-37, with 6:45 remaining in the third and PRCC was never able to cut back into the home team's lead.
"It wasn't that we didn't fight or didn't have effort. We were excited about this game," Fletcher said, "Our shot selection probably wasn't the best. We just couldn't get enough points going and then their transition was just killing us."
LEADERS
Powered by 3 of 5 shooting from behind the 3-point arc, Linzy led PRCC with 16 points. Monroe finished with 11. Dywana Parker (Gulfport) led the Lady Wildcats with six rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. Alanna Smith (Picayune) had a team-high four assists.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to action Monday with a 5:30p.m. home meeting against Hinds. The game can be seen at PRCCAthletics.com and heard on both WRJW 1320 AM and WRJWRadio.com.
Anyone with a Roku device can also watch the games by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel in the app store.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on Twitter (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).