MERRY HILL – Pungo Christian Academy punched a ticket to the finals of the Lt. Nick Brantley Scholarship Tournament here Wednesday.

Both jayvee teams won the right to play in Friday’s championship games.

The Lady Raiders downed Northeast Academy 25-20 in the junior varsity girls tournament which is sponsored jointly by United Country Joe Murray Realty and the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald.

Taylor Mann and Gibson Armstrong combined to lead PCA with both scoring nine points. Megan Futrell led Northeast with seven.

After a scoreless first half, both teams warmed up in the second period.

Macy Morgan got the first bucket of the game with five minutes to go in the first half.

Northeast responded with a Futrell hoop and an Anna Liverman basket as they surged ahead 4-2.

The game was tied at 4-all thanks to Mann’s score.

Northeast scored three times from the free throw line – two from Futrell and one from Holly Byrum – to take a 7-6 lead into the intermission.

The Lady Eagles extended the advantage to 9-6 when Liverman had the first hoop of the third quarter.

PCA, however, rallied back with eight unanswered points. Mann started the spurt while Armstrong had four of the eight and Dana Woolard added the other score.

Northeast then got a free throw from Liverman to close the gap to 14-10 at the end of three quarters of play.

Madison Buren got a bucket for the Lady Eagles to start the fourth quarter as they closed within 14-12, but Pungo scored the next three points to pull away. Woolard had a free throw and Armstrong scored from the floor to make it 17-12.

Following an Olivia Brown free throw, the Lady Raiders got a three-pointer from Mann to surge ahead by seven (20-13).

Northeast wasn’t done, however, as Futrell answered with a triple and then Byrum and Robyn Barnes had successive hoops to tie the game at 20-all.

Pungo secured the win with a trio of free throws from Armstrong and a bucket by Mann to win 25-20.

The junior varsity boys from Pungo didn’t have nearly as tough a time advancing to the finals. The Raiders knocked off Northeast Academy 46-17 to secure their second straight trip to the championship game.

Hunter Sutton paced the Raiders with 19 points while Thomas Mann added 18 points. Trey Futrell led Northeast with five points.

Pungo jumped out to an early lead as Mann sandwiched two hoops around a Joshua Dunbar bucket to give PCA an early 6-0 lead. Northeast stopped the run when Dale Davis scored.

The Raiders, however, came back to score seven unanswered to lead 14-2 and continued to pull away for the win.

In addition to those in double digits, the Raiders got five from Dunbar and two each from Ryan Tooley and Samual Patti.

Following Futrell for Northeast were Davis, Nathan Rowe and Brandon Edwards with four each.