FERRIDAY, La. &045; After finishing behind teams such as the Tensas Lady Chiefs and most recently the Trinity Lady Saints in district play in the last several years, the Huntington Lady Hounds can finally call themselves district champions.

Erin Hedrick had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Emily Hazlip had 15 points and nine rebounds as the Lady Hounds cruised to a 65-27 win over the Ben’s Ford Lady Eagles Friday night to win the MPSA&160;District 7-1A championship and clinch the No. 1 seed from that district at South State.

Huntington (18-7, 10-0) clinched the district title with two district games remaining &045; at Pine Hills next Friday and home versus WCCA on Feb. 4.

&uot;We’ve got four seniors, three of which have been starting for four seniors,&uot; Huntington coach Michael McAnally said. &uot;They are excited (about winning district). Trinity’s been the class of our district for several years.&uot;

Not to be outdone, Tiffany Ferguson and Sarah Ashmore also had solid performances for Huntington. Ferguson had 12 points, six boards and four assists while Ashmore had 11 points, six steals and four assists.

&uot;I thought it was our best all-around game of the season,&uot; McAnally said. &uot;We had 11 steals and 19 assists as a team. We moved the ball around well and made some good passes.&uot;

The Lady Hounds took control of the game with a dominating first half and the Lady Eagles wasn’t able to do anything about it.

Huntington took a 16-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and then put the game completely out of reach by outscoring Ben’s Ford 26-10 in the second quarter to take a 42-17 halftime lead.

While the Lady Hounds struggled offensively in the third quarter, scoring just four points, they gave up just three points to the Lady Eagles thanks to their full-court press defense.

Katie Breland led Ben’s Ford with 15 points.

Jefferson County 54, Amite County 30

FAYETTE &045; Shaterrica Hall scored 17 points and Travalyn Smith had 16 points and Jefferson County’s defense held Amite County’s leading scorer, Kim Andrew, in check en route to the 24-point win in Division 7-3A action Friday night.

&uot;Tonight they played team ball,&uot; Lady Tigers head coach Flora McKnight said. &uot;The scoring was balanced. The rebounding was even. We’re playing well as a team.&uot;

Paulesha McBride, who sat out the game against Wilkinson County last Tuesday and missed the last two days with the flu, finished with 11 points for the Lady Tigers (16-5, 9-1).

&uot;Paulesha played real well,&uot; McKnight said. &uot;She rebounded well.&uot;

Jefferson County played a zone defense in the first half and then went to its press defense in the second half. Both worked effectively on Andrew, who was held to just nine points, well under her average of over 20 points a game.

&uot;We were playing well defensively tonight,&uot; McKnight said.

The Lady Tigers’ defense helped them take a 15-4 lead after one quarter of play and a 25-11 lead at halftime. They then outscored the Lady Trojans 17-6 in the third quarter to take a commanding 42-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Tensas Academy 37, Amite School Center 23

LIBERTY &045; Megan Bauerle had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Lady Chiefs got closer to clinching the No. 2 seed from MPSA District 7-1A at South State with a 14-point win over the Lady Rebels Friday night.

Libbi Burns had eight points and Brittany Ratcliff added six points for the Lady Chiefs (18-6, 7-2), who will likely finish second in district play behind district champion Huntington.

Leading just 7-5 at the end of the first quarter, the second quarter proved to be key for the Lady Chiefs as they outscored the Lady Rebels 13-4 in that quarter to take a 20-9 halftime lead.

Amite School Center cut the lead to nine going into the fourth quarter, but was outscored by Tensas 12-7 in the final quarter.

Trinity Episcopal 58, WCCA 44

WOODVILLE &045; The Lady Rams had no answer for Trinity’s Mallory Archer, who scored 26 points as the Lady Saints stayed in contention for a berth in South State with the big win on the road Friday night.

Sierra Massey had 11 points and Holly Hall added 10 points for the Lady Saints (7-14, 4-5).

The Lady Rams (7-11, 5-4) went into the game trailing Tensas by just one game for second place in district play, but got behind early and could not get a big rally going to pull off the win.

Trinity took an 11-5 lead going into the second quarter and expanded its lead to 12 points, 26-14, at the half.

Both teams scored 14 points in the third quarter and the Lady Saints outscored the Lady Rams 18-16 in the fourth quarter.

Emily Lanehart led WCCA with 16 points and Caroline Kee had 10 points.

Newellton 59, Block 53

NEWELLTON, La. &045; Amanda Gales scored a game-high 22 points and the home-standing Lady Bears took advantage of some poor defense by the visiting Lady Bears in the second quarter to take the six-point win Friday night in a key District 4-1A game for both teams.

Kim Brown added 14 points and Sharonda Bryant chipped in with 10 points for Newellton (20-7, 3-0)

Dani McMillin led Block (11-6, 3-1) with 17 points to go with three rebounds, three steals and two assists. Catessa Branch had 16 points and 13 rebounds.

&uot;Just a close ball game,&uot; Block head coach Veronica Savage said. &uot;Newellton did what they had to do. They wanted it badder than we did.&uot;

Which was especially true in the second quarter. Block led Newellton 15-12 after one quarter of play, only to have the host Bears outscore the visiting Bears 20-8 in that quarter to take a 32-23 halftime lead.

&uot;I don’t really understand what happened out there,&uot; Savage said. &uot;Our defense backed off and Newellton got a second wind.&uot;

From staff reports

Centreville 62, Bowling Green 31

CENTREVILLE &045;&160;The Lady Tigers (12-7, 7-3) doubled up Bowling Green and kept their shot at being the No. 2 seed in the MPSA 4-2A tourney alive with the win.

Jenae Jackson and Jenny Watts led three players in double figures with 22 and 19, respectively, but it was Emily Knighton’s seven assists that opened things up, head coach John Brasier said.

&uot;I have to yell at Emily sometimes to shoot more,&uot; Brasier joked. &uot;She’s not that confident at the one (guard), but at the two she frees up Jenae and Jenny.&uot;

The Lady Tigers face Presbyterian Christian today at home in a key district battle.

Centreville lost earlier in the season by 15 in Hattiesburg to Prebyterian Christian, but Brasier likes his team’s chances this time around.

&uot;We were still trying to figure out who we were and how to play together back then,&uot; he said. &uot;I think we have a chance. It’d be phenomenal from where we’ve come from.&uot;

Enterprise girls 50, Cathedral 37

ENTERPRISE &045; The Lady Wave hung around for a period, but ran out of gas by the half.

Danielle Smith led Cathedral (1-14, 0-6 division 7-1A) with nine points and 11 boards, while Andrea Harthorn led all scorers for Enterprise with 15.

Enterprise (6-14, 2-4 7-1A) outscored the Lady Green Wave 31-25 in the second half.

Kilbourne girls 65, Monterey 32

KILBOURNE, La. &045; teh Lady Wolves ran into a buzzsaw of a team in Kilbourne as C.C. James dropped in 32 in the win.

This one ws over by the tip, as Kilbourne (20-7, 3-0 district 3B) outscored Monterey 18-8 in the first period and upped its lead to 24, 42-18, by halftime.

Brittany Woodruff led the Lady Wolves with 14 points.