POPLARVILLE, Miss. — A Wildcat through-and-through, Pearl River women's basketball coach Scotty Fletcher captured his 100th career win Monday night inside Marvin R. White Coliseum with the help of an impressive all-around performance from his team. The Wildcats were on fire from the opening tip, earning a 48-point, 77-29 victory over Hinds.
"My heart is in Pearl River. Pearl River changed my life," Fletcher said. "There have been so many positive influences on my life since I got here. I remember sitting in that board room for my interview and telling everyone what we would do if I was afforded this opportunity.
"These girls just have such a different level of commitment. I've had a lot of great players and a lot of great assistant coaches. I haven't made a basket or gotten a rebound. This has been a total team effort. Seeing where we were eight years ago to where we are now is special."
Pearl River men's basketball coach Chris Oney who captured his 100th career win in the 2020-21 season talked about Fletcher's milestone.
"I'm very excited for coach Fletcher," Oney said. "I know that he and his staff work extremely hard. I know that it is something that he's happy about and I'm extremely happy for him. I'm just hoping that he'll share the gym with me now that he has reached the 100 win mark."
FIRST HALF
Despite a pair of empty possessions to open the night, the Wildcats (12-0 overall; 2-0 MACCC) embarked on a big 9-0 run to open things up. After forcing a turnover, the Wildcats knocked down their first 3-pointer of the night. Ty'Mesha Reed (Meridian) found a wide-open Alexis Arrington (Terry) on the left wing who hit nothing but net on her shot attempt. Reed got her first shot of the night to fall after plucking a ball away from the Bulldog guard and taking it down the court for an easy layup. J'Mani Ingram (North Augusta, S.C.) capped off the run, picking up a rebound and weaving her way around defenders for a tear-drop basket.
Hinds (2-9; 1-1) didn't let the large deficit bother it, climbing back into the contest to trail 12-8 after one quarter of play.
Pearl River blew things open in the second quarter of the night, outscoring the Bulldogs by an incredible 29-4 margin.
Marcavia Shavers (Biloxi) added the first basket after picking up an offensive rebound and putting it right back up.
A few plays later, a stellar defensive play from Reed resulted in a basket for the Wildcats. As the Bulldog player carried the ball down the court, Pearl River was applying heavy defensive pressure. When the HCC guard jumped to pass the ball, Reed leapt high in the air and smacked the ball down, gathered it quickly and rushed down the court for a layup. The score made it a 24-11 contest.
Reed turned provider a few plays later as she picked away another ball, went down the court quickly and dished off to Halle Traylor (Tupelo) for a heavily contested layup. The basket extended the lead to 29-11.
Not long after, Keshunti Nichols (Pearl) was dribbling down the court before unleashing a quick spin move near half-court that lost her defender. The sophomore forward was fouled on her shot attempt and knocked down both of her free throws to extend the lead to 31-11.
Pearl River rounded out the half with a 3-pointer from the corner by Hama'ya Fielder (Philadelphia; Neshoba Central). The basket made the PRCC lead 41-12.
SECOND HALF
Tierra Simon (Houston, Texas.; Heights) knocked down the first 3-pointer of her Wildcat career early in the third quarter to extend the lead to 48-12. The Prairie View A&M transfer was fed a pass at the top of the key and slashed home the shot. The Wildcats added on a few minutes later when Fielder caught a pass from Shavers and nailed a 3-pointer. The basket from beyond-the-arc made the score 59-17.
Freshman guard Zi'A Shields (Lawrence; Newton) added to the lead on the next offensive possession, fighting through heavy contact to get a layup to fall.
PRCC made the score 63-21 with the help of Khyla Ragins (Booneville; Harrison Central). After a miss, Fielder tracked down a rebound and saw Ragins wide-open. Ragins caught the pass and easily knocked down the mid-range jump shot.
Ragins got the scoring started in the fourth quarter after softly laying a ball off the glass and into the basket to make the score 65-21.
Perfect trips to the free-throw line by Shields and Arrington extended the Pearl River advantage to 70-24.
Brandy Scott (Hammond, La.) got on the scoresheet for the first time late in the fourth quarter after stealing a pass and going coast-to-coast for a layup. Ragins wrapped up the scoring with a jumper to hand the Wildcats a 77-29 victory.
BY THE NUMBERS
Reed led the way for the Wildcats with 14 points. She also collected three rebounds and a steal. Simon was second on the team with 11 points, four rebounds and three blocks. Traylor rounded out those in double-digits with 10.
Traylor and Ingram finished with six rebounds each. Traylor led the way with five assists.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to action Thursday as it travels to Fulton to take on Itawamba. The game is set to tipoff at 5:30 p.m. and will be livestreamed at LetsGoICCTV.com
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