photo by Ben Hillyer

Cathedral’s Carl Hammitte goes up to block a shot from Monterey’s Nick Blake in their game on Tuesday.

Cathedral drops opener to Monterey

By From staff reports | The Natchez Democrat

Published Wednesday, November 11, 2009

NATCHEZ — The Cathedral Green Wave did not start the 2009-2010 season the way they wanted to as they lost to the Monterey Wolves 54-41 Tuesday night at the Roy A. Garcia Memorial Gym.

The first quarter proved to be the difference in the outcome as Monterey took advantage of multiple miscues by Cathedral on both ends of the court to jump out to a 21-5 lead and never looked back.

“In the first quarter, we looked like at team that was playing its first game. We turned the ball over and couldn’t make any shots,” Green Wave head coach Peter Arnold said. “We dug ourselves a huge hole.”

Arnold also gave credit to Monterey (3-4) for being the better team on this night.

“They outplayed us and they killed us on the rebounds,” he said.

The Wolves maintained their 16-point lead at halftime and took a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Green Wave (0-1) outscored them 11-7 in the fourth quarter, but it was not nearly enough.

“I know we’re a much better team than we were tonight,” Arnold said. “I really expect us to be a very competitive team this year.”

Josh Chapman led Monterey with 13 points and Jacob Evans added 11 points. Cathedral was led by Carl Hammitte with 11 points and Colin Hammons with nine points.

ACCS boys 53, Copiah Academy 30

NATCHEZ — Lee Swinney, Daniel Guedon and Bryce Murray each scored in double figures as the Rebels offset the turnover bug with solid defense as they rolled past the Colonels in their season-opener Tuesday night.

“We threw the ball around. They threw the ball around. We had a lot of turnovers. It was definitely an ugly game,” Rebels head coach Rick Fife said.

ACCS (1-0) led just 11-8 at the end of the first quarter, but a 16-9 advantage in the second quarter put the Rebels ahead 27-17 at halftime. Copiah Academy was unable to regain the momentum in the third quarter and was held to just two points in the fourth quarter while the Rebels scored 13 points in both the third and fourth quarters.

“We came out strong in the first half and we tightened up the defense in the second half, especially the fourth quarter,” Fife said. “We made some big shots at big times in the game. I think that early in the game we didn’t take off the boards. We’ve gotta play defense and rebound the offense will come around.”

Swinney led ACCS with a game-high 17 points while Guedon finished with 12 points and Murray had 11 points. Reece Hankins led Copiah Academy with 11 points.

Copiah Academy girls 37, ACCS 12

NATCHEZ — After going 2-1 at the ACCS Girls Tip-Off Tournament last week, the Lady Rebels were looking to keep their momentum going Tuesday night against Copiah Academy.

But the Lady Colonels had other ideas as they held ACCS to zero points in the first quarter en route to a 25-point win over the Lady Rebels.

“We didn’t show up,” Lady Rebels head coach Melanie Hall said.

Copiah Academy, in its first season in MAIS Class AAA, jumped out to a 16-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was more of the same as the Lady Colonels outscored the Lady Rebels 8-2 for a commanding 24-2 halftime lead.

Madeline Cline led Copiah Academy with 10 points and Whitney Phillips chipped in with nine points. Taylor Welch and Rachel Holloway scored four points each to lead ACCS (2-2).

Brookhaven Academy boys 66, Huntington 22

FERRIDAY — The top-ranked and defending Class AA state champion Cougars flexed their muscle Tuesday night as they had little problem defeating the Hounds.

Brookhaven Academy controlled the game from start to finish, never allowing Huntington to get anything going offensively while scoring pretty much at will.

The first quarter was a harbinger of things to come for Huntington against a superior Cougars team. At the end of the quarter, the Cougars led 29-1. By halftime, they led 39-5.

Kevin Brown scored 11 points and Jess Dossett added five points to lead Huntington (0-1).

Brookhaven Academy girls 65, Huntington 17

FERRIDAY — Brookhaven Academy jumped out to a 28-5 lead at the end of the first quarter as the No. 2 team in Class AA proved why it will be a state title contender again this season with a 48-point win over the Lady Hounds Tuesday night.

The Lady Cougars stretched their lead to 31 points at halftime and they outscored Huntington 17-0 in the third quarter. Kristen Havard led the Lady Hounds with nine points.

WCCA girls 57, Tensas Academy 43

WOODVILLE — For years, Tensas Academy’s varsity girls basketball teams had dominated Wilkinson County Christian Academy when they were one of the best teams in MAIS Class A.

But on Tuesday night, that would not be the case. Mary Claire Netterville led three WCCA players in double figures with a game-high 24 points as the Lady Rams defeated a young Lady Chiefs team by 14 points for their first win of the season.

Tensas Academy got off to a good start and led WCCA 15-12 at the end of the first quarter. However, over the next two quarters the Lady Rams took control of the game. Led by Netterville, Teri Fisher and Caroline Walker, they outscored the Lady Chiefs 38-16 over that 16-minute span and at the end of the third quarter had a 50-31 lead.

Fisher finished with 15 points and Walker scored 12 points for WCCA (1-2). Egan Ratcliff led Tensas Academy (1-2) with 12 points and Emma Arceneaux had 11 points.

The varsity boys’ game between the two schools was canceled due to Tensas Academy’s football team playing in the MAIS Eight-Man state championship game against Calvary Christian at Robinson-Hale Stadium on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Vicksburg 71, Natchez High 53

VICKSBURG — Despite getting a game-high 27 points from Brandon Holden, Natchez High could not keep up with Vicksburg in the second half of its season-opener as the Gators defeated the Bulldogs Tuesday night.

Vicksburg (2-0) led but just five points, 27-22, at the end of the first half. However, in the second half the Gators’ offense took control while their defense got some big stops to pull away from the Bulldogs.

While Vicksburg scored 22 points each in the third and fourth quarters, Natchez High (0-1) managed just 13 and 18 points, respectively. The Gators were led by Kelsey Howard with 19 points and Mychal Ammons with 18 points. Jeremy McMorris was the only other Bulldogs player to score in double figures as he ended up with 13 points.