[1/5/05]With a tough box-and-one defense limiting the touches of Annie Beaugh, the Porters Chapel Lady Eagles had to adjust their way past Tri-County Tuesday night.

PCA got some key plays from Lauren Johnson before Beaugh finally got untracked in the fourth quarter as the Lady Eagles earned a 41-37 victory.

The win keeps PCA unbeaten in District 4-A action at 6-0 and moves the overall record to 14-5. Tri-County falls to 4-15.

“We’ve been expecting teams to do that to us and we’ve done better handling it than we did tonight,” PCA coach Mike Grzanich said. “We had to have some other people step up like Jessica Lang and Lauren (Johnson) did.”

The two teams were tied at 25 heading into the fourth quarter. At this point, PCA showed the patience Grzanich wanted and got an open shot in the lane from reserve forward Lisa Toney.

Beaugh followed with a layup for a 29-25 lead. Amy Beaugh then created the next two PCA baskets by finding Annie open for a score, then adding a driving layup for an eight-point lead, the Lady Eagles’ largest of the game.

Tri-County wouldn’t go away, though, getting the spread back to four after a basket and two free throws from Janae Harris.

Johnson, who made two 12-foot jumpers in third quarter, came up with her third big play of the game with two minutes to go. She ran down a Tri-County pass in the Lady Rebels’ front-court and then swung an outlet pass to Amy Beaugh.

Amy Beaugh saw Annie Beaugh wide open for a layup and a 37-31 lead.

Harris hit a three-pointer to make it 40-37 with 12.6 seconds left. Annie Beaugh answered for PCA hitting 1-of-2 free throws for the four-point win.

(B) PCA 43, Tri-County 40

Three-pointers from Dan Ivey and Cole Smith to start the fourth quarter paced the Eagles (8-8) past Tri-County (6-10) in the boys contest.

Tri-County did not trail until the back-to-back 3-pointers by Ivey and Smith. The treys turned a 36-31 deficit into a 37-36 PCA lead.

Smith had 14 points to pace PCA. Ivey had 11. Joshua Osbourne led Tri-County with 14 points and Campbell added 13.

(B) Hinds AHS 69, VHS 59

One week after falling to Vicksburg in the Raymond Holiday Tournament, the Hinds AHS War Dawgs rebounded with a 10-point decision over the Gators (11-9).

Mario Webb scored a game-high 23 points, while Joseph White scored 20 and Oshard Lofton netted 16 for Hinds AHS (16-2), the top-ranked team in Class 2A. Lofton was held to two points the last time the teams met.

Sederick Williams paced Vicksburg with 18 points, while Brandon Harper and Fred Thomas each scored 10.

“This was a big win for us,” said Hinds AHS coach Keith Williams, who beat Vicksburg for the second time in his career.

(G) Hinds AHS 46, VHS 44

Mercedes Williams’ 12-foot jump shot with 2.5 seconds to play lifted Hinds AHS to a win over Vicksburg on Tuesday. The loss dropped Vicksburg to 11-9 and snapped the Missy Gators’ five-game winning streak.

Cre’Tarsha Taylor missed a desperation 3-pointer as time expired.

“She was pretty well covered,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said. “It would have been a miracle if it went in.”

Kristin Ellis led Vicksburg with 16 points and Rachel Jenkins scored 12.

(G) WC 53, Forest Hill 40

Warren Central held Forest Hill to 17 second-half points to improve to 2-0 in Division 6-5A.

Cookie Johnson led the Lady Vikes with 18 points and Carla Latham netted 11.

“We spent very little time on offense since the JPS Tournament,” WC coach Donny Fuller said. “I thought we had to do a much better job defensively.”