The Bainbridge Middle School eighth grade Lady Cats and Bearcats basketball teams continued their winning ways Wednesday with victories over the Thomas County Central Middle School eighth grade Lady Yellow Jackets and Yellow Jackets at the Decatur County Memorial Coliseum.

Coach Dot Pierce’s Lady Cats, who are 6-1 for the season, defeated the Lady Yellow Jackets 24-21 and coach Heith Maxwell’s Bearcats, who are 5-2 for the season, defeated the Yellow Jackets 47-30. The Lady Cats were led by Mycha Harris with 18 points. Zycheria Russ put in six.

Coach Pierce said she was very pleased with the way Russ handled the ball down the stretch.

“We had a strong lead late and needed to stall the ball and run some time off the clock,” she said. “Zycheria handled the ball well and kept it away from the defense to preserve the victory.”

Coach Maxwell’s Bearcats were in control from the final three quarters of the game. They trailed 9-5 at the end of the first quarter, but bounced back to out score the Indians 14-9 in the second quarter and take a 19-18 lead at halftime.

The Bearcats pulled away in the third quarter outscoring the visitors 21-3 to take a 40-21 lead. The Yellow Jackets had a slight 9-7 fourth quarter scoring edge.

The Bearcats scoring leaders were Tim Allison with 11 points and Bryce Jones with 10.

“We started off slowly, but we really picked up the pace in the second half” coach Maxwell said after the game.

The eighth grade Lady Cats and Bearcats will conclude play after the holidays. They will host the Seminole County Middle School Lady Indians and Indians January 12 and take on Cairo’s Washington Middle School Lady Tigers and Tigers January 14 in Cairo.