While the other three Marion County schools participate in district tournaments in this week, Columbia Academy is already onto the South State playoffs.
Both the Cougars (19-10, 6-0) and Lady Cougars (22-9, 6-0) claimed District 4 titles after going undefeated and received first-round byes in the playoffs as No. 1 seeds.
After ending an eight-game losing streak last Tuesday with a win over Wesson, the West Marion Lady Trojans (5-18, 1-9) began a new streak in their season finale last Thursday night at home.
The Lady Trojans new streak is on the winning side after beating Purvis 62-46 as four players reached double figures in scoring.
After beginning the district schedule beating every team in Region 8, the Wildcats (11-11, 7-3) have lost three of their last five games and their last two to close out the regular season.
The regular season has come to an end for East Marion basketball and both the Eagles (19-3, 8-0) and Lady Eagles (14-8, 8-0) know exactly what they need to accomplish going forward.
The University of Southern Mississippi baseball team comes into the 2018 season with big goals. The Golden Eagles, who open their season Friday by hosting Mississippi State, are picked by the Conference USA coaches to win the league – by a large margin.
Columbia Academy’s Owen Harper took the next step in his football career Wednesday, inking a letter of intent to play for Southwest Community College.
The playoffs are here after a season of ups and downs for each of the four high school girls basketball teams.
Lady Trojans get first district win
The East Marion Eagles (18-3, 7-0) more than took care of business last week to clinch the Class 1A Region 8 regular season title — they dominated and made it look easy, extending their winning streak to eight games and have won 15 of their last 16 contests.
It took some time, but the Columbia Academy Cougars (17-10, 4-0) have found their identity and have an eight-game winning streak to show for it.
Head coach Dale Watts said his players have come to accept their strengths and weaknesses as a team and alter their strategy each game as the opponent dictates.
Heading into last week’s action, the Columbia Wildcats (11-10, 7-2) controlled their own destiny in Class 3A Region 8, but that is no longer the case.
The Wildcats turned defense into offense and consistently finished at the rim last Tuesday night at home in a 71-53 win over Wesson.
The Columbia Lady Wildcats (12-8, 5-3) have scratched and clawed their way into a No.
