HAZLEHURST &045; Jefferson County’s Lady Tigers dropped their first division game of the season in a 45-42 loss at Hazlehurst Tuesday.

The Lady Tigers (7-4, 2-1) started off slow and never could get over the hump. Hazlehurst led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter before taking a 25-18 lead at halftime.

Jefferson County trimmed the lead a bit in the third with a 10-7 run, but the Lady Indians finished with a strong fourth quarter to seal it.

Travalyn Smith led Jefferson County with 15. Aiesha Collins led Hazlehurst with 17 points.

Vidalia boys 66, Newellton 52

NEWELLTON, La. &045; What a difference an eight-minute break makes.

Vidalia’s Vikings trailed by 10 at halftime but returned in the second half to take outscore the Bears 41-17 en route to the 14-ponit win.

&uot;We got off to a sluggish start,&uot; Vidalia head coach Robert Sanders said. &uot;We were down 10 points at half because we weren’t playing defense, couldn’t score and weren’t rebounding well. We just made the adjustments and did a better job in the second half.&uot;

The first half was all Bears and inside guy Chris Snowden as he had 12 points in the first half, including eight in the second quarter.

So the Vikings changed things up. After straying from the 1-2-2 and man-zone combinations, they went with the 1-2-2 press in the second half.

Snowden had just two points in the second half.

Ajay Warner led the Vikings (7-3) with 26 points.

Newellton girls 99, Vidalia 39

NEWELLTON, La. &045; The Lady Vikings continue to struggle, and Newellton wasn’t in the Christmas spirit Tuesday night.

The Lady Bears went nuts in the first quarter by scoring 41 points to Vidalia’s 6. They then outscored Vidalia 23-15 in the second quarter to take a 64-21 halftime lead.

Karonda Bryan led Newellton with 20, while Amanda Gales had 19. Vidalia’s top scorer was Gemecia Williams with 15.

Wilkinson Co. boys 61, Amite Co. 53

WOODVILLE &045; Wilkinson County led from wire-to-wire as the Wildcats had two players hit double figures in scoring to knock off district rival Amite.

Lawarren Seiber had 14 points, while Bryant Dent chipped in 13 for Wilkinson County (10-3, 2-1). Jonathan Melson led Amite with 14.

Amite Co. 42, Wilkinson Co. 37

WOODVILLE &045; Amite trailed at the end of one, but took charge of the game in the second period to earn the victory.

Lasonna Franklin had 12 points to lead Amite, while Latasha Williams led all scorers with 14 points.

Franklin County boys 50, Lawrence County 39

MEADVILLE &045; DeAndre Cameron was just about everywhere for the Bulldogs Tuesday.

Cameron scored 10 points and dished out two assists offensively, but it was his nose on defense that helped Franklin County to the victory.

Franklin’s Bobby Henderson led all scorers with 15, while Edward Mikel led Lawrence with eight points.

Franklin County 43, Lawrence County 40

MEADVILLE &045; The Lady Bulldogs could have panicked trailing by six after three periods of play.

Instead Franklin County righted the ship in the final quarter to come from behind for the victory.

The Lady Bulldogs outscored Lawrence 18-9 in the fourth.

Tamera Grant and Victorian Hunt led the way for Franklin with 11 and 10, respectively.

Lawrence’s Stacey Smith was the game’s top scorer with 15.