D'Iberville sweeps into boys, girls, 6A state playoffs

D'IBERVILLE -- D'Iberville rode the hot three-point shooting of Zach Scales and Kyle Winters to keep its basketball season alive.

Scales scored 23 points and Winters added 17 as the Warriors steamrolled Ocean Springs 62-34 in the Region 7-6A Tournament Consolation game on Thursday at D'Iberville High School. The Lady Warriors beat George County in the Girls' 6A consolation game.

D'Iberville (19-11) will play at either Biloxi or Gulfport in a Class 6A first-round state playoff game on Tuesday night.

After losing to St. Martin in the Region 7-6A Tournament semifinals, the Warriors held a meeting on Wednesday.

"We didn't practice on Wednesday," D'Iberville coach Lorenzo Wright said. "We sat down and talked about our team goals. The seniors said one of the goals was to make the state playoffs, do something that hasn't happened in a long time at D'Iberville. The talk helped us. We looked like we did earlier in the season."

The Warriors started fast, scoring the game's first seven points. Ocean Springs, however, was the opposite, missing its first five shots. Winters scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Warriors led 17-6.

"This game was huge for us," Winters said. We work on our shooting in practice everyday. We pass the ball in the post. If the shot's not there inside, they kick it out and we shoot the three."

D'Iberville continued its dominance in the second quarter, outscoring Ocean Springs 16-7 for a comfortable 33-13 halftime lead. Scales had eight points in the quarter.

D'Iberville led 53-18 after three quarters and played reserves in the final eight minutes.

D'Iberville girls 48, George County 41: Casey Ferguson scored 24 points as the Lady Warriors (9-15) held off George County in the Region 7-6A Girls' Tournament consolation game. Ferguson made six free throws in the closing minute.

D'Iberville advances to play in a first-round state playoff game on the road against Gulfport or Harrison Central at 7 p.m. Monday.

D'Iberville jumped out to a 15-7 first quarter lead as Casey Ferguson scored nine points. The Lady Rebels missed seven straight shots in the last four minutes of the quarter.

George County cut the gap to 22-20 at halftime behind a 13-1 run as Asia Riley had nine points on three three-pointers.

The Lady Rebels led 27-24 late in the third, but D'Iberville closed period with a 9-4 run to lead 33-31 after three quarters. Ferguson had five points.

"We took Asia out of the game," Lady Warriors coach Renee Ladner said. "She scored 11 points in the second quarter. Once we did that, George County's offense stalled. The biggest difference was Casey Ferguson taking over the game in the fourth quarter. We lost to George County twice, once with Casey."

Fredika Dortch led George County (13-14) with 16 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Riley had 13.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:08 PM with the headline "D'Iberville sweeps into boys, girls, 6A state playoffs ."