The speed of the game was different and the players were much bigger and stronger, but other than that, there wasn’t all that much different for new Porters Chapel Academy boys basketball coach E.J. Creel.

The Eagles made enough shots and grabbed enough rebounds to make Creel a winner in her debut as a boys coach. PCA (1-0) defeated Tallulah Academy 56-39 at PCA Monday night. Eagle wing players Matt Cranfield and Colby Rushing combined for 31 points, and returning point guard Brad Pennington had 12 points and dished out seven assists.

Pennington said Creel’s knowledge of the game makes her more than qualified to coach the boys.

“It’s not bad, she’s a good coach. We just need to get in better shape. For a first game, we were pretty rusty. It’ll get better. It has to, because we open district play Friday against Veritas,” Pennington said.

“This wasn’t bad for five days of practice,” said Creel, a PCA graduate who coached the girls team a season ago. “It’s not that much different except for the speed of the game. It’s a totally different speed. We did a lot of good things. And we did some bad things.”

Some of the bad was 21 turnovers. The good was the outside shooting of Cranfield and Rushing, who combined to make seven 3-pointers.

“We just need to get them open,” Pennington said.

Another good thing is that the Eagles have size. Six-foot-five center Jacob Rachal had eight points and seven rebounds. Jermaine O’Conner, an All-Warren County player last year as a 6-4 forward, played two quarters and had one point, five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.

“Jermaine had that (intestinal) surgery, so he’s not back in shape. But we’ve also got Jacob and Matt Hall will be a good physical player for us,” Pennington added.

Ashley Halterman led Tallulah with 17 points and nine rebounds.

(G) Tallulah 55, PCA 23

An 11-0 run to start the third quarter lifted Tallulah (5-0) past PCA. The Lady Eagles were hurt by 15 turnovers in the third quarter alone.

“It’s pretty much the same team we had last year,” said Tallulah coach Mike Sevier, who guided the team to the Academy-A state tournament last season. “Mary Beth Givens is our only senior. We’ve got four juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen, so we’re still pretty young.”

Sevier added that the Lady Trojans schedule is about to get tougher.

“We play River Oaks (tonight) at home and then we go to a nine-team tournament in Rayville this weekend. They’ll be some good teams there,” Sevier said.

Givens had 12 points, including 10 in the second half, to lead Tallulah. Anna Beth Book chipped in 10 while Katie Book had nine.

PCA (0-5) was led by Shelby Wells with 15 points.