POPLARVILLE – Jones County Junior College held a slim, 25-19 halftime lead over Pearl River here Thursday night at Marvin R. White Coliseum.
But the Lady Bobcats outscored Pearl River 27-6 in the third quarter and rolled to a 68-38 victory.
It was JCJC's ninth straight victory. The Lady Bobcats are now 11-2 overall and are tied with Southwest for the top spot in the MACJC South Division with a 4-0 mark.
Pearl River drops to 4-8 overall, 1-3 in division play.
Leading 27-22 early in the third quarter, JCJC's Hanah Lott keyed the decisive run by scoring 11 straight points.
She made a 3-pointer from the left wing, hit a layup, hit a 3-pointer from the right corner and then hit another trey – all in a span of 1:45 – to give JCJC a 38-27 lead. A Wendion Bibbins' layup capped the 13-0 stretch and gave the Lady Bobcats a 40-22 lead with 6:11 left in the third quarter.
JCJC closed the quarter with a 3-pointer by Anna Wilks with 11 seconds showing to give the visitors a 52-25 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Lady Bobcats would take their longest lead of the evening at 64-31 with 3:04 left when Kanisha Tharpe hit a 15-footer.
JCJC almost completely shutdown PRCC's inside game in the second half. The Lady Wildcats did not make a two-point field goal until 2:08 remained in the game and only made a pair of two-pointers in the entire second half.
The Lady Bobcats struggled to shoot in the first half.
JCJC only made 10-of-37 shots from the field, including just 1-of-20 from 3-point range. But the Lady Bobcats held Pearl River to only 7-of-28 shooting in the first half.
The Lady Bobcats fell behind 4-0 to start the game, but came back to take a 10-9 lead after the first quarter.
PRCC took a 19-17 lead with 5:15 remaining in the first half when Tiara Warren made a 3-pointer. But JCJC scored the final eight points of the half with Zan Ratcliffe's 3-pointer with 36 seconds left giving them a six-point cushion at the break.
It was all Lady Bobcats in the second half as JCJC outscored Pearl River, 43-19.
Bibbins paced JCJC with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Myyah West had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Lott finished with 11 points and Tharpe had 11 rebounds to go with four points.
JCJC outrebounded Pearl River by a whopping 64-30 margin.
Akayla Powell had 14 points for Pearl River, while Warren added 10.
The Lady Bobcats travel to Meridian for a 5:30 p.m. game on Tuesday. Pearl River hosts Mississippi Gulf Coast on Tuesday.
 
 
WOMEN
Thursday's game
Jones County 68, Pearl River 38
JONES COUNTY (11-2, 4-0) – Wendion Bibbins 17, Hanah Lott 11, Myyah West 10, Zan Ratcliffe 9, Ashailee Brailey 5, Tatyana Lofton 5, Kanisha Tharpe 4, Anna Wilks 3, Patrice Tate 2, Aliyah Bell 2, Dana Brown 0, Joy Powell 0, Hayle Lott 0.
PEARL RIVER (4-8, 1-3) – Akayla Powell 14, Tiara Warren 10, Asia Thibodeaux 7, Shelanita Starks 4, Shaniqua Magee 3, Alex Cumbest 0.
 
Jones County            10 15 27 16 – 68
Pearl River                   9 10  6  13 – 38