The Georgiana Panthers improved to 9-5 over the weekend with a 77-63 win over the Red Level Tigers Saturday.

Playing without three starting players for the first half due to disciplinary reasons, the Panthers opened a 10-point first period lead.

Although Red Level pulled the game to within one at the half, the Panthers opened the lead to three at the end of the third and then cruised to the 14-point victory.

Three Panther players scored in double digits, led by Terrance Mathews with 20 points.

Jamie Williams had 14 points, Damien McIntosh had 12, Andre Paige and Gerard Pleasant had eight points, Reco Johnson had six points and Jerrod Lee finished with five.

For the Tigers, Cale Nolan was the leading scorer with 26 points while teammate D.J. Sankey had 11 points in the loss.

The Panthers return to action Saturday night as they play host to Highland Home, the first of three area home games in a row for Georgiana. The Panthers will also take on Luverne January 23 and Goshen January 26 before the showdown with the Greenville Tigers January 27.

The B-team will get things going Saturday with tip-off at 4:30 p.m.

In Friday night's game:

Luverne 65, Georgiana 57

With three starting players sitting out the first half due to disciplinary reasons, the Georgiana Panthers fell behind early and could not catch up Friday as the Luverne Tigers cruised to a 65-57 win.

The Tigers opened up a 12-point lead to end the first period, but the Panthers cut the led to 11 at the half.

The Tigers extended the 11-point halftime lead to 13 at the end of the third period and although the Panthers were able to close the gap to eight, it wasn't enough.

Troy verbal commitment Fred Hawkins was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 22 points while teammate Romethious Harris was next with 13 points.

Stoney Jackson also had nine points in the win.

For the Panthers, Jamie Williams was the team's leading scorer with 18 points.

Terrance Matthews had 12 points, junior Andre Paige had 10 points, Damien McIntosh had eight points, Reco Johnson had seven and Gerard Pleasant had four in the loss.