The Wilcox-Central Lady Jaguars took control early and never let go, as they defeated the Dallas County Lady Hornets 69-41 on Friday at Wallace Community College-Selma in day one of the Dallas County Christmas Tournament.
Robert Rucker, head girls basketball coach of Wilcox Central (5-2), said the Lady Jaguars were able to minimize their mistakes and control the pace of the game.
“The key to victory was we tried to cut down on turnovers, tried to make all the easy baskets that we could,” Rucker said. “We just controlled the ball and were able to run time off the clock.”
The Lady Jaguars were able to take a 33-17 lead into halftime before pushing that lead to 55-29 in the third quarter on their way to a dominating victory.
Charles Thompson, head girls basketball coach of Dallas County (7-8), said his team made some mistakes in Friday’s loss.
“We kind of got out of character a little bit. Defensively, we missed a lot of assignments,” Thompson said. “We got outrebounded and we got outhustled. I take full credit for this loss.”
Kalisa Mendenhall led the Lady Jaguars with 20 points, while Rachel Madison added 15 points for Wilcox Central.
De’Undria Boggs led Dallas County with 16 points, and Tieara Chandler added 12 points for the Lady Hornets.

Lady Bears 54, Lady Panthers 30
The No. 10 Keith Lady Bears controlled the game from start to finish on their way to a 54-30 win over the rival Southside Lady Panthers on Friday.
Cecil Williams, head girls basketball coach of Keith (11-2, ranked No. 10 in Class 1A), said the Lady Bears were able to put a lot of pressure on Southside and force mistakes.
“We played pretty well defensively not letting them do what they wanted to do on offense and making them change up and do things that they’re not used to,” Williams said. “We played pretty aggressive. Offensively, we played well, too.”
The Lady Bears jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the first quarter, as Dasheena Thomas and Lyteisha Phillips combined for six of those points in the paint during the opening period, with teammate Harriet Winchester scoring 9 points in the first.
Keith pushed its lead to double digits in the second quarter, as Winchester scored six points in the second to help fuel the Lady Bears to a 35-18 lead at the break.
Jason Bothwell, head girls basketball coach of Southside (5-7), said his team needs to learn to play at a high level consistently.
“We just have to be ready to play each time we take the floor,” Bothwell said. “We’ve just got to be able to play at the same consistent pace every game, and right now we’re just not getting that.”
Winchester led the Lady Bears with 17 points, while Thomas added 10 points.
Tanisha Blevins and Khadijah Peeples each had 9 points for the Lady Panthers.
Keith will play Wilcox in the championship game on Saturday, while Dallas County will face Southside. Games will start at 4 p.m.