It was ugly, sloppy and downright disheartening at times. But at the end, it was still a win for Porters Chapel, and the Eagles would like to leave it at that.

PCA failed to capitalize on a hot start and nearly squandered a double-digit lead before holding off Sharkey-Issaquena 44-35 Friday afternoon.

PCA (7-0, 6-0 District 4-A) got 17 points from Dan Ivey and 16 from Hayden Hales in the victory, which sets up a showdown Monday in Jackson against state power and district rival CM&I.

Seth Brown led SIA (8-4, 4-3) with 12 points.

&#8220It’s a win,” PCA’s Cole Smith said of the win over SIA. &#8220I hope we do better Monday against CM&I. We know that’s going to be a tough game.”

The one against SIA wasn’t expected to be a cakewalk, either. For one quarter, however, it looked like it might be.

PCA was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the first period and held the Confederates to just four shots while building a 12-2 lead. The Eagles extended the lead to 14-2 early in the second quarter before SIA went to a press and turned the game around.

The Confederates forced PCA into 10 turnovers in the period and used an early 9-0 run to get within two points, 16-14, just before halftime.

&#8220We just kind of broke down,” Smith said. &#8220We couldn’t run our offense. Then they put the pressure on us and that slowed us down even more.”

Hales hit a shot in the closing seconds of the first half to make it 18-14, then PCA opened the second half with a 7-1 run to push the lead to nine. SIA answered with a 10-3 run early in the fourth quarter, however, getting as close as one point at 30-29.

And that was it.

The Confederates’ shots stopped falling, PCA put together an 8-2 run to create some space, and SIA never got within one possession again. A three-point play by Ivey and a 3-pointer by Michael Johnson keyed PCA’s decisive run.

&#8220For the entire game, we just blew chip shots inside,” SIA coach Cori Britt said. &#8220I think we played good defense. We matched up well. We just didn’t shoot well.”

(G) SIA 36, PCA 31

Jennifer Heigle scored a game-high 18 points, and Sharkey-Issaquena used a game-ending 5-0 run in the final minute to beat a feisty Porters Chapel squad.

Lauren Johnson had 12 points and Bailey Williams scored eight for the Lady Eagles, who were tied with the Lady Feds with a minute to play. SIA’s Lucy Goodman hit the front end of a one-and-one with 51 seconds left to put her team ahead 32-31, though, and Nicole Cox cleaned up the miss on the second shot to make it a three-point game.

PCA missed a shot and turned it over on its final two possessions and Heigle hit a short jumper with 20 seconds to play to seal it.