By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

POPLARVILLE — Both the Pass Christian girls and boys will open the Class 4A South State playoffs at home next week.
The top-seeded Pirates thumped Bay High 65-19 Thursday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Region 8-4A Tournament taking place here at Poplarville High School. The Lady Pirates, the second-seed on their side of the bracket, followed that by nipping Moss Point 26-25 in the second game of the day.
With the win, both PCHS squads move on to their respective title tilts Friday night as the Lady Pirates face top-seed and longtime rival Bay High at 7:00 p.m., followed by the Pirates taking on Greene County for the crown at 8:30.

Winners from the semifinal round advanced on to Friday night’s title tilts, while the losing teams are back in action on Friday afternoon playing for third seeds.
Also, the winners of the semifinal round games clinch home playoff games in the opening round of the state playoffs, while the teams playing in consolation contests automatically hit the road to start the playoffs.
In the first game of the day on Thursday, the Pirates got a game-high 15 points from A.J. James and 13 points from L.J. Jaynes in cruising to the comfortable win. Jaylen Antoine scored 12 points for Bay High.
After that, it was the Lady Pirates’ turn to try and secure an opening-round home playoff game, and that’s exactly what they did but in a much more competitive contest.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Caroline Lumpkin, a native of Pearl River County, the PCHS girls pulled out the tight one-point win over the Lady Tigers which marked their third win of the season over MPHS.
Pass Christian got 12 points from Kamaiyah Pruitt in the win, while Ariana Crimm chipped in nine points to the winning effort. Landyn Johnson paced Moss Point with a game-high 15 points.

In the third game of the day, the top-seeded Bay High girls rolled to their 24th win of the season by smashing Greene County 48-18. Nakeria Coleman posted a double-double for the Bay, as she had 18 points and 15 rebounds.
Bay High’s win total at 24-5 marks the most wins in a season for the Lady Tigers in 11 years, since they went 36-0 and won the Class 4A state championship.
In the fourth and final game of the night, Moss Point suffered its second one-point loss in three hours as the Greene County Wildcats beat the Tigers 55-54 in overtime.
The Wildcats were led by Tylan Blackston with 25 points and Jase Mathews added 12 points.
Friday’s action features four more games in the tourney, as the Moss Point girls take on Greene County in the consolation game at 4 p.m., followed by the boys’ consolation game pitting Moss Point and Bay High.
The two title tilts follow, with PCHS taking on Bay High in the girls’ championship game at 7 p.m., followed by the Pirates and Wildcats at 8:30.