Southern Sports & Travel, By Darron Thomas
The Presbyterian Lady Bobcats extended their winning streak against MAIS squads to 15 last night with a 53-33 home win over East Rankin on senior night at Rees Gymnasium in Hattiesburg. The large crowd on hand witnessed five seniors play their last game on their home court as Presbyterian improved to 21-4 with two regular season road games left on the schedule before post season play gets into full swing.
All five Lady Bobcat seniors started the game but it didn’t take long for Presbyterian fans to see one of the most promising players in the MAIS take the court. Trista Magee, a 6’ tall eighth grader whose play and poise resembles that of a polished senior, complimented the game high 19 points that senior Erin Holifield put up with 19 points of her own as the top ranked Lady Bobcats broke open a close first half game to win their final home game of the season.
Holifield scored seven of Presbyterian’s first eleven points as the Lady Bobcats built an 11-2 lead halfway into the opening quarter.
East Rankin’s Carlee Westberry answered as the senior nailed a 3-pointer from the corner and then hit a 15’ jumper to pull the Lady Patriots to within four points at 11-7 with 3:45 remaining in the quarter.
Trista Magee served up Erin Holifield’s fourth basket of the quarter and Logan Venus hit a 12’ jumper to give Presbyterian a 15-7 advantage after one quarter of play.
Monica Breland’s close range bucket gave Presbyterian their biggest lead at 17-7 one minute into the second quarter as the Lady Bobcats threatened to break things open but East Rankin stayed close with timely perimeter shooting. Kaitlyn Busby drained a 12’ jumper and Kaitlyn Coghlan followed with a jumper from the elbow at the 5:33 mark to trim the deficit to 17-11. Trista Magee pushed the Presbyterian lead back to nine points with a 3-pointer from the wing but Carlee Westberry fired back with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to keep the Lady Patriots within six points at 20-14. Both squads traded baskets to end the half with Presbyterian holding a 22-16 lead. 
East Rankin struck first in the third quarter on a Rachel Glass fast break basket as the Lady Patriots were only two baskets from pulling even but they would get no closer due in part to the play of Magee and Holifield.
Magee converted on a 10’ jumper, plus one, and canned two free throws on the Lady Bobcat’s following possession to extend the lead back to 27-18.
After a Carlee Westberry jumper from the elbow with 1:33 remaining in the quarter pulled East Rankin back to within six points once again, Erin Holifield drained a 3-pointer from the wing to give the Lady Bobcats a 37-28 cushion going into the fourth quarter.
Trista Magee’s fast break lay-in, plus one, gave Presbyterian their biggest lead of the night at 44-30 with 4:50 remaining in regulation and the Lady Bobcats finished the game with a 9-3 run to take the 53-33 victory.
Erin Holifield and Trista Magee shared game high honors with 19 points each, Monica Breland and Joyce Smith added 4 apiece, Logan Venus had 3 and Allison Dueitt and Katie Molpus 2 each.
Kristen Byrd led East Rankin with 13 points, Carlee Westberry had 10, Kaitlyn Coghlan 4 and Brianna May, Rachel Glass and Kaitlyn Busby all had 2 each.
(Photos above) Erin Holifield (#20) in the top photo and Trista Magee (#2) in bottom photo each paced Presbyterian with 19 pts.
Post Game Comments: Presbyterian Head Coach Missy Bilderback
