The Coahoma County boys and girls are both in first place after wins at Leland Friday and home victories against West Tallahatchie on Tuesday.
The Lady Red Panthers are currently 7-1 in the division with their one loss coming to Leland.
However, the points tiebreaker goes to Coahoma County. The Lady Red Panthers won by six at Leland Friday 59-53. They lost by two points 49-47 at home to Leland earlier in the season.
“Head-to-head,” said CCHS coach Derrick Moore explaining the tiebreaker. “They beat me by two. I beat them by six. Same way they beat me last year. I beat them by nine. They beat me by 12.”
In spite of the Lady Red Panthers coming in second place in the district last season, they still made the Class 2A final four of the state tournament.
Moore said the CCHS girls are still in a better position now controlling their own destiny.
“We’re solid,” he said. “I knew what we had to do in order to beat them anyway. When we played them here, I just didn’t want to press them here knowing I eventually had to go there. I wanted to wait until we got there to bring out what we had to do.
“For the girls, it was good to beat them because they had beaten us for like the last three times.”
The Lady Red Panthers followed up their win at Leland with another district win at home Tuesday night defeating West Tallahatchie 41-15.
They led 33-7 at halftime and there was a running clock in the second half due to the mercy rule.
Calysia Phillips had 21 points at Leland Friday, Taakaius Fonzy had 14, and Nakia Cheatham had 12.
In the win against West Tallahatchie, Fonzy had 11 points, while Phillips and Shakira Artis had 10 each.
The Red Panthers, now 8-0 in district play, defeated West Tallahatchie 61-51 on Tuesday night.
Jai’Sheldon Yates had 24 points, Alshun Ross had 14 and Jermaine Fry had nine on three 3-pointers.
The Red Panthers won at Leland Friday 68-46.
Markevious Holmes had 20 points, Yates had 11, and Bentavious Galmore had 10.
Moore said both teams have not shown everything they have.
“We’re hiding,” Moore said. “We’re not playing what we need to be doing. Trust me, when it’s time to play it, we’re going to play it. Right now, we’re just waiting.”
Moore talked about all the Red Panthers who have come through for the team.
“Tonight, this guy (Jermaine Fry) caught on fire,” he said. “Yates was playing big all night. The girls, Calysia was playing well. Shakira was playing well. Every night it’s somebody different. Because somebody is stepping up, we don’t have to press every night. We don’t have to show everything that we’ve got.”
