Jefferson County High’s Lady Tigers avanced to the South State 3A Tournament with a 62-35 win over Forrest Agricultural High School Monday in Fayette.

The Lady Tigers will face Forest High Friday at Forest in a semifinal contest.

The top three teams from South State advance to the state tournament in Jackson.

Forest defeated West Lauderdale 59-34 Monday.

Jefferson’s County win was not as easy as the score may indicate.

The Lady Tigers led 17-7 after one period of play, but Forest cut that lead to 28-22 at halftime.

Forest pulled to within four late in the third quarter before the Lady Tigers took a 42-28 advantage at the end of the period.

&uot;We finally picked it up in the third quarter,&uot; said Jefferson County head coach Flora McKnight. &uot;We started playing defense. If we don’t play with a lot of intensity on defense, then our offense doesn’t click.

&uot;We scored a lot off of turnovers late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter,&uot; McKnight said. &uot;I think we may have come out a little nervous at the first part of the game.&uot;

The Lady Tigers outscored Forest 20-7 in the final quarter.

The Lady Tigers were led in scoring by Shaquita Smith with 24 points.

Memorie Tenner chipped in 12 points for Jefferson County.

Katoya Winston and Sholanda Wyatt finished with nine points each for the Lady Tigers.

Forrest Agriculture was led by Tammy Martin with 11 points, while Ashley Watts added 10.

The Lady Tigers won the Division 6-3A Tournament at Wilkinson County High in Woodville last week.

Forrest finished second in the Division 8-3A Tournament.

Other South 3A games Monday had Heidelberg facing Velma Jackson and Amite County at Tylertown.

Jefferson County’s girls won the South State 3A championship last year, but lost to Stone County High in the semifinals of the Class 3A State Tournament in Jackson.