By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BAY ST. LOUIS — Bay High head coach Kelton Thompson has once more led both his Tigers and their female counterparts to the Class 4A South State playoffs.

But first things first for both Bay High squads.

While Thompson’s troops have each already secured spots in the playoffs, they each will head to Leakesville this week to participate in the Region 8-4A Tournament which tips off on Monday at Greene County High School.

The Bay High girls finished the region regular season race as the number two seed entering the annual event and the boys ended up with the third seed. Both squads secured that status after sweeping Poplarville on the road to wrap up both regular season and league play Thursday night.

“I’m very proud of both groups,” Thompson, now in his third season at the helm of both Bay high squads, said. It also marks the third consecutive season that he has guided both teams into the Class 4A South State playoffs as well.

“We’ve had some ups and downs on both sides this year, but both teams have kept working hard to get to this point,” he added. “But we still have a lot left to play for also.”

The Lady Tigers moved to a solid 18-10 overall on the season and 6-2 in region play with the 50-11 thumping of the Lady Hornets Thursday night. Bay High’s only two league losses came to top seed Moss Point each in close decisions at 38-34 at home in the Tigerdome on Tuesday as well as 31-28 on the road three weeks ago.

In the beat down of Poplarville, LaKeitha Sampson outscored the Lady Hornets by five points herself as she led Bay High with 15 points and Emmalee Coote chipped in 12 points to the winning effort. Both Serenity Singleton and Asiah Thompson had eight points apiece for Bay High as well.

That game was followed up by the Tigers toppling the Hornets 33-29 in the nightcap.

Bay High senior standout Anthony Robinson tallied a game-high 19 points in the win and he also posted a double-double with 10 rebounds. He also added four steals. Noah Smith was also a force on the backboards for BHS as he pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Jadence Graham had nine points for Poplarville and Semaj Jackson had eight points for the Hornets.

Both Poplarville teams finished as the fifth seed in their respective region races. The Hornets will play Moss Point Monday night at 7:30 p.m., with the season on the line for both teams.

Meanwhile, the Lady Hornets will take on Pass Christian at 6:00 Monday night in the same situation.

Both Poplarville teams won’t tip-off play in the region tourney until Tuesday.