NATCHEZ &045; The second-day finale at the Adams Christian Girls’ Tip-Off Classic featured a team that has been toiling in practices since August and one that is just now getting its legs under it.

And, as one could surmise, the team that has been seasoning its skills for nearly three months came out on top.

ACCS, eager to crash the boards and man up with anyone not wearing a Lady Rebel uniform, got 13 and 12 from seniors Nikki Hankins and Kim Robertson, respectively, in a 45-24 victory over Oak Forest Tuesday.

&uot;They were ready to play tonight,&uot; Lady Rebels head coach Bruce Pickle said. &uot;We did a lot of good things early on. As a coach you always see areas to improve on. You don’t want to harp on anything this early, but rebounding is one thing we’re going to have to work on.&uot;

But it was nothing earth-shattering in the ACCS repertoire in the season opener for both squads.

As is customary with watching a Lady Rebel team, they full-court pressed for nearly a half, played aggressive on both ends of the court and cranked out the long-distance dialing.

Anna McLemore, who finished with nine points for ACCS, launched a 3-pointer for the first points of the 2003-04 campaign and it was money.

Hankins connected on a hat trick of treys, along with Robertson and Brittany Gamberi knocking down one apiece.

&uot;I don’t mind all the 3’s because we’re going to shoot a lot of them throughout the year,&uot; Pickle said. &uot;But we also need to learn how to get (the ball) inside.&uot;

In spite of several putback layups from Hankins, McLemore and Meghan Austin, ACCS relied heavily on its sharpshooters to score buckets from beyond the lane.

&uot;The first half (Oak Forest) kept collapsing inside on us,&uot; Pickle said. &uot;I want to go back and watch the film to see what we can change about that. We weren’t able to get it inside hardly any tonight.&uot;

The Lady Rebels controlled things from the tip, scoring the first 11 points of the night before Oak Forest’s Staci Miller canned a jumper to get the Lady Yellow Jackets on the board with 3:39 in the first quarter.

&uot;I’m disappointed in the way we played,&uot; said Lady Jackets head coach Joe Fekete, whose team has only practiced seven times this season. &uot;We just didn’t execute tonight. The good thing is we can only go up from here. This game was sort of like a practice for us too.&uot;

Pickle added: &uot;I thought the pressure hurt (the Lady Jackets) a bit. After they got use to that, it turned into a good game.&uot;