The Philadelphia Tornadoes split a pair of games against the host teams in the Winona tournament last week in prep basketball action.

The Tornadoes defeated Winona 63-49 while the Philadelphia girls dropped a close game to Winona 48-44 in overtime.

Philadelphia will host a shootout day at the Tornadoes' gym this Saturday. The Philadelphia and Choctaw Central junior high teams will play in morning and early afternoon. Afterwards, the schedule is as follows:

2 p.m. - Greenwood girls vs. NW Rankin;

3:30 p.m. - Greenwood boys vs. NW Rankin;

5 p.m. - Choctaw Central boys vs. Saltillo;

6:30 p.m. - Philadelphia girls vs. Bay Springs;

8 p.m. - Philadelphia boys vs. Bay Springs.

Philadelphia begins Region 5-3A play the following week. They host Choctaw Central January 12 and then visit Forest on January 15.



Tornadoes

The Philadelphia boys entered the week with a 13-3 record following their win over Winona.

It was a close game until the final quarter. With the score tied at 7-7 after the first quarter, the Tigers outscored the Tornadoes 8-7 in the second quarter to lead 15-14 at the break.

Philadelphia retook the lead in the third quarter as it outscored Winona 17-14. Leading 31-29 heading into the final eight minutes of play, the Tornadoes outpointed the Tigers 32-20 to take the victory.

Edrigo Harrington led with 17 points while Jarron Boler added 15 and Johnathan Edwards scored 12.

Coach Jason Broom is pleased with his team's win but said the bench was going to have to provide more depth as the team goes into district play.

"Right now, we are seven players deep," Broom said. "There are going to be nights in district games where we get into foul trouble and we are going to have to get more help from our bench."



Lady Tornadoes

For the second game in a row, the Lady Tornadoes saw a non-playing action pull them away from victory.

Philadelphia led 14-12 at the half. Winona outscored the Lady Tornadoes 11-7 in the third quarter to carry a 23-21 lead into the final quarter. But the Lady Tornadoes outscored the Lady Tigers 18-16 in the four quarter to tie the game as regulation ended.

Philadelphia was on the free throw line and sank what appeared to be the winning basket.

But the referee ruled the player stepped on the line and the game went into overtime, tied 39-39.

Winona outscored Philadelphia 9-5 in overtime to take the win.

Kaysun Greer led the Lady Tornadoes with nine points while Isabella Fulton scored eight.

The Lady Tornadoes entered the week with a 12-4 record.