Ferriday — Natchez High School girls head coach Alphaka Moore saw a bit of inconsistency in her Lady Bulldogs though they still came out with a 71-44 victory against Ferriday High School Saturday night.

Skylar Morgan had 16 points for the Lady Bulldogs and Ernesha Chatman recorded 11 points while several other players put up even scoring. For the Lady Trojans, Jada Griggs had an 18-point night while going 11 for 17 at the free-throw line. Sha’Keria Kelly tallied on 22 points as well.

Natchez got off to a quick start with a blocked shot that resulted in a breakaway lay up by Kiana Jones that put them up 2-0 early.

Ferriday was limited to just five points in the first half, two of those were free throws while Griggs scored a three-pointer from the corner with just seven seconds remaining to be down 25-5.

Griggs scored first in the second half as she was fouled at the three-point line, she made two out of three attempts.

Despite outscoring Natchez 10 to eight, Ferriday didn’t see their first field goal of the second quarter until Alona Bowman made a lay up with 2:28 to go.

Natchez called a time out as they were up 16 points 33-17, and Ferriday decided to turn things up a notch as they implemented a 1-2-1-1 full court press.

It worked for the Lady Trojans as they saw themselves get as close as nine points, but Natchez stretched it back out to 13 before the half.

Coach Moore was not happy with her team’s second-quarter performance despite having her second string play a majority of the eight minutes.

Moore said the score on the scoreboard means nothing to the effort she expects to see consistently throughout the course of the game.

“You can’t say nothing to them when they’re winning by 20 points and then fuss at them when they’re down 20 points,” she said. “You have to get on them every game so they know the mistakes that they’re making throughout the season.”

Natchez came out of the locker room in a full-court press and outscored the Lady Trojans 36 to 22 to blow out Ferriday.

“We had to recognize that they couldn’t handle the pressure, so we knew we had to attack with pressure in order to take the game,” Moore said.

Natchez will travel to Franklin Parish High School on Dec. 3, in a double header

Natchez High boys 55, Ferriday High boys 53

It came down to free throws, as the score was tied 53-53 when Natchez’s Dominique Mazique was fouled as time expired.

Mazique stepped to the line, overcame the pressure and knocked both free-throws down to beat Ferriday high School 55-53 in Trojan territory.

Mazique had eight points for the Bulldogs as Gary Woods led the pack with 11 points.

For Ferriday, Jashon Foster tallied 15 points and Dajohn Mitchell and Ronald Davis both added 14 points.

The Bulldogs went on a 19-8 run in the first quarter, but Ferriday finally got warmed up and managed to outscore Natchez 19-10 in the second quarter and 14-10 in the third to take a 41-39 lead going into the fourth quarter.

But the Bulldogs were able to keep their poise and pull out the win as they generated 16 points in the final quarter, the most they’ve had since opening the game.

Natchez is now 4-0 after the win and will play Franklin Parish High School on Dec. 3.