By SAM STAFF/Sports Writer

POPLARVILLE — The top seeds on both sides of the bracket held serve in fine fashion at the Region 8-4A Tournament here at Poplarville High School Friday night.
Both the Bay High girls and the Pass Christian boys finished their perfect runs through league play with wins in their respective championship games, as the Lady Tigers beat long-time neighbor and rival Pass Christian 45-20 and the Pirates pummeled Greene County 63-26.
All four teams in the title tilts will open the Class 4A South State playoffs at home beginning early next week.
The win was the 16th straight for the Bay High girls under the direction of head coach Kelton Thompson, as the Lady Tigers moved to 25-5 overall. It also marked the third win over the Lady Pirates for BHS this season, as they wrapped up league play at 10-0.

Kiara Burney tallied a game-high 17 points to pace Bay High, including four 3-pointers. She nailed two of those treys in the first quarter and scored nine points total in that period and Kayla Fricke added six points as the Lady Tigers posted more points in the opening frame than PCHS managed in the entire game with 21.
With a commanding 21-4 lead entering the second stanza, the Lady Tigers cruised to the win.

In addition to Burney’s 17 points, Bay High got 11 points from Nakeria Coleman and eight points from Fricke in the winning effort.
Arianna Crimm paced the Pass with seven points.

In the boys’ title tilt, Brendan Necaise dropped in a game-high 18 points for the Pass, including four 3-pointers. Terry Patton and Perry Williams each added 10 points apiece to the winning effort.
Cordarius Molten had nine points for the Wildcats.
Moss Point won the boys’ consolation contest while Greene County got the girls’ third seed.
The Tigers nipped Bay High 29-27 to avoid having to face top-ranked Raymond in the first round Tuesday. Quey’Sean Taylor topped the MPHS Tigers with a game-high 15 points, while Anthony Robinson led Bay with eight points.

Greene County slipped past Moss Point 38-30 in the girls’ consolation contest.
Landyn Johnson had 12 points for the Lady Tigers and Jordyn Ford added 11 points.
All four teams in the consolation games will be on the road for the first round of the playoffs.