The Philadelphia Tornado basketball teams opened Region 5-3A play this week. The Tornadoes were to host Choctaw Central on Tuesday and then travel to Forest on Friday. Both teams have had a successful run in their non-region schedule. The Tornadoes entered the week with a 13-4 record while the Lady Tornadoes come in at 12-5. Philadelphia played once last week as it held its annual shootout on Saturday. Both teams lost to Bay Springs. The boys dropped a 68-45 decision while the girls went down 42-30. “Bay Springs has one of the best teams in their classification,” Coach Jason Broom said. “They got ahead of us. We changed our defense at the half and got back in the game. Then we got into foul trouble and we just don’t have the depth on the bench that we need at this point.” The Bay Springs boys led 32-16 at the half. Philadelphia pulled to within 10 points before getting into foul trouble. The Bulldogs pulled away in the fourth quarter. Darius Davis led with 12 points while Johnathan Edwards added nine points. Philadelphia and Bay Springs were tied at 11 after the first quarter in the girls game. The Lady Bulldogs would outscore the Lady Tornadoes 14-5 in the second quarter and that proved to be the difference. Precious Sanders led the Lady Tornadoes with seven points. “Our girls just struggled to score any points,” Coach Jason Broom said. “Bay Springs had some height and we had no answer for them.”