Greenville High School scored a 62-44 win over Georgiana School Saturday night in Georgiana to sweep the season series between the in-county rivals.

The Tigers previously defeated the Panthers 76-68 Jan. 5 in Greenville.

While the first matchup was a seesaw battle, Saturday’s matchup was a very different story.

Greenville (9-10) raced out to an 18-4 lead in the first period, thanks in large part to 10 first-period points from Javarrius Cheatham, and never trailed in the contest.

“We gave relentless effort tonight,” Greenville High School head coach Richard Kelly said. “We knew that Georgiana is a good team, so we had to make sure that we kept the lead all night.”

The Panthers made a charge in the second period outpacing the Tigers 16-12 to slice into Greenville’s lead, but were never able to completely close the gap.

“We just couldn’t score,” Georgiana School head coach Kirk Norris said. “It’s bad when you can’t score at home, but that’s what happened. We struggled in the first period, and played a little better in the second period, but at that point we were down 10 at the half. We had a bad third period and they pulled away from us.”

Georgiana managed just six points in the third period. Meanwhile, Greenville ripped off 13 more points to extend its lead to 43-26.

Greenville outpaced Georgiana 19-18 in the final eight minutes of play.

“If you have big scoring droughts like we had, it’s hard to win games,” Norris said. “We’re just not playing well right now. We’re struggling, but I’m proud of our kids. We got down, but they fought the entire game. They never gave up.”

Kelly credited the Tigers’ post players with setting the tone for the game.

“I was most proud of our post players,” Kelly said. “They came to work tonight.”

Cheatham led the Greenville offensive charge with 18 points.

Tevin Burns scored 10 and dished out eight assists in the win and Kent Riley added eight points for the Tigers.

Jacquez Payton paced the Panthers with 14 points, while Devin McMeans chipped in 13 points.

Greenville took on Hillcrest-Evergreen Tuesday night. Results were not available at press time. The Tigers will be back in action Friday when they square off with Demopolis High School. The game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. in Demopolis.

Georgiana faced off with in-county rival McKenzie Tuesday night. Results were not available at press time. The Panthers will host Brantley Friday night at 7:30 p.m.