POPLARVILLE, Miss. – The Pearl River women's basketball team (15-1; 5-1 MACCC) got back into the win column with a dominant 31-point win over Northwest (6-9; 1-5) Monday inside Marvin R. White Coliseum.
Hama'ya Fielder (Philadelphia, Miss.; Neshoba Central) found her stroke coming off the bench to lead all scorers with 18 points, her highest point total since her 17-point outing against Columbia State on Nov. 28.
"I had to fix my mindset after the first half," Fielder commented on her night's performance. "First half is done; second half be better. I didn't let shot-making and shot-missing determine how I was going to play in the second half. I had to change my mindset after a rough stretch of games, and I decided to let my defense create offense.
FIRST QUARTER
Pearl River opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from Halle Traylor (Tupelo). Northwest responded immediately with a 3-pointer of its own to tie the game 3-3. The Wildcat offense took off from there with a 15-point run to lead 18-3. Traylor paced the Wildcats during the run with two 3-pointers.
J'Mani Ingram (North Augusta) added four straight points for PRCC, two coming off a putback on a Wildcat miss and another after she created a turnover and scored on a layup. Tierra Simon (Houston, Texas; Heights) closed out the run on a layup off a nice pass from Khyla Ragins (Booneville; Harrison Central).
After a Northwest basket, the Wildcats scored the next six points with a 3-pointer by Ragins and a WNBA distance three from Fielder. Jaliscia Florence (Tupelo) closed out the half, hitting all three free throws after being fouled with .5 seconds on the clock to bring the Wildcat lead to 27-7.
SECOND QUARTER
Ingram led the way for PRCC in the second quarter, scoring six of the Wildcats' first eight points of the quarter. Ingram opened things with a layup and following a Shavers putback, Ingram scored again with a midrange jumper to increase the lead to 33-7.
Ingram scored again off a pinpoint pass from Shavers as she cut in the lane and put in a layup. After a couple of unanswered baskets by Northwest, the Wildcats finished the half with a 40-13 lead off a 5-1 run. Scoring on the run was Simon with a putback and Fielder with a corner three.
THIRD QUARTER
Northwest closed the gap in the third quarter, 51-26, as they outscored the Wildcats 13-11. Fielder paced PRCC in the quarter with eight points. On her second 3-pointer of the quarter, every Wildcat on the court touched the ball before Fielder converted the three. Ingram contributed three points in the quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
The Wildcats got back on track in the fourth quarter scoring the first three points with a free throw from Marcavia Shavers (Biloxi) and a basket from Ingram. Shavers thwarted an easy basket for Northwest with a chase-down block on a Northwest fast break off a Wildcat turnover.
On PRCC's next possession, Ragins hit a three to extend the lead to 57-26. Fielder continued with the hot hand scoring six of the Wildcats' next seven points with back-to-back threes and extended the lead to 64-32. Brandy Scott closed out the scoring on a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining in the game and gave the Wildcats a 67-36 victory.
LEADING THE WAY
Fielder came off the bench to lead all scorers with 18 points. Ingram had another strong performance with 17 points and eight rebounds. Traylor followed with 10 points. Shavers added eight points and two blocks.
"I thought tonight it was so important to get a great start early on." Pearl River coach Scotty Fletcher on his starting lineup tonight. "I always say, you can't let one loss beat you twice, and it was so important tonight to get off to a great start."
NEXT UP
The Wildcats return to the court on Thursday when they travel to Summit to take on the Southwest Bears. The game is set to begin at 6 p.m. and will be livestreamed at Go.SMCCBears.TV
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