FULTON, Miss. — In front of a raucous Itawamba crowd, the Pearl River women's basketball team built on its incredible start to the season Thursday night. Despite trailing after one quarter of play, PRCC fought back to pull off an impressive 62-45 victory, extending its record to a perfect 13-0 mark in the process.
"I thought that this was an incredible college basketball atmosphere tonight. It was a very tough environment. They had a great crowd," Pearl River coach Scotty Fletcher said. "This game presented a lot of challenges and adversities. I was glad that we weathered the storm. ICC is an extremely well-coached team and gave us problems.
"Our goal was to win the game with our defense and rebounding. We held ICC to 45 points, which was our goal for the game."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Pearl River (13-0 overall; 3-0 MACCC) stormed out to an early 9-2 advantage to start the game. The run was capped off by an incredible J'Mani Ingram (North Augusta, S.C.) play. The sophomore guard drove inside, fought her way through some contact, and got an off-balance layup to fall.
Itawamba (8-4; 0-3) punched right back as the Indians battled back to take an 11-9 lead with 1:14 left in the first quarter. ICC went up 15-9, but the Wildcats were able to cut the deficit to three points at 15-12 before the end of the frame.
Whatever message Fletcher gave during the first quarter break was heard by the Wildcats. PRCC outscored the Indians 18-8 during the second quarter to go into the midway point with a 30-23 lead.
After a hard-fought third quarter of play ended for the Wildcats, PRCC held on to a 45-36 lead.
Pearl River put the game to rest in the fourth quarter of play, scoring 17 points and holding the ICC defense to nine. The strong quarter helped PRCC win the contest 62-45 to remain perfect on the season.
LEADING THE WAY
Four Wildcats scored in double figures for the night, with Ty'Mesha Reed (Meridian) leading the way with 13 points. Halle Traylor (Tupelo) was second with 12 points, which included a pair of 3-pointers.
Marcavia Shavers (Biloxi) was big for the Wildcats from her center position, tallying 11 points. Ingram rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points.
"I'm really, really proud of all of the girls tonight," Fletcher said. "We were able to get contributions from everyone that played tonight. I was also really proud of their defensive play. We play in a very tough conference, and we know that to win on the road, you have to bring good defense with you."
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to Marvin R. White Coliseum Tuesday for a 6 p.m. tipoff against Meridian.
CASHLESS BOX OFFICE
To help improve traffic flow and fan experience, PRCC athletics box offices will be cashless in 2022-23. Only credit and debit cards will be accepted at the box office. Fans are encouraged to beat the lines and purchase their tickets in advance at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.
TUNE IN
Pearl River livestreams all home games for free at PRCCMedia.com/gold. Fans who have Roku, Amazon Fire, or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.
Games will also be available over the air in Pearl River County by tuning into 1320 AM and 106.9 FM. The radio broadcast is also available at WRJWRadio.com and by downloading the WRJW app.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on Twitter (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).