Provine hammers Tigers; Wesson edges Lady Wave

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 31, 2003

JACKSON &045; If there are two words that may never go together in the world of prep sports, it’s holidays and consistency.

If a coach can put the two together during this time of year, somebody is living awfully right. But much more often than not this is a time of sporadic play, and the Jefferson County Tigers’ 70-35 loss to Class 5A Provine was just the opposite of what happened Friday night at the JPS/Pepsi Holiday Classic.

The Tigers (7-11) were impressive in a 63-59 win over Forest Hill, but a day later Provine kept with the pressure and didn’t let them get up.

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&uot;They were real aggressive, and that’s how state champions play,&uot; Jefferson County head coach Marcus Walton said. &uot;They came out and their defensive intensity was great. We didn’t have any effort tonight. They out-played us from start to finish. They’re No. 2 in the state, but that’s no excuse for us with the way we played.&uot;

Provine started with the press from the tip-off and didn’t let up as the game went on. The Tigers actually got the first four points of the game before Provine tossed in the next 14 to take a 14-4 lead.

Provine led 41-16 at halftime and never let up.

No other information from the game was available.

Wesson girls 37, Cathedral 27

WESSON &045; Sooner or later things will come together. Notorious for starting slow in the third quarter, the Cathedral Lady Wave played some of their best ball in the second half Saturday in the first round of the Wesson tournament.

This time, however, the slow start to the game doomed the Lady Wave.

Cathedral, down 13-4 by the end of the first quarter, managed to cut the lead to two, 29-27, late in the fourth quarter thanks to a full-court press that gave the Lady Cobras problems. But Wesson finished the game on an 8-0 run to close it out.

&uot;This time the first half killed us,&uot; Cathedral head coach Erin Binns said. &uot;That first quarter kind of got us down really quick, but we came back and played really well. We pressed them, and they started turning the ball over a lot more.&uot;

Wesson had that nine-point lead after one before each team scored six in the second for a 19-10 Wesson lead at the break. Cathedral then trimmed the lead to 24-16 at the end of three before rallying to cut the lead.

Danielle Smith led the Lady Wave (1-11) with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Lady Wave will play at 1 p.m. Monday against Bogue Chitto.

C. Hinds 60, Trinity boys 45

BRANDON &045; The Saints fell behind quick in the first half as they dropped their opening game in the UCS tournament.

Central Hinds jumped out to a 14-8 lead by the end of the first and a 32-18 lead at halftime over the Saints, who were without point guard Gregory Ketchings. The Cougars outscored Trinity 28-27 in the second half.

Robert Manson led Trinity with 15 points, while Stevan Ridley had 12. Central Hinds had four players in double figures.

The Saints (4-6) will play at 5:30 p.m. Monday against UCS, who lost to Newton County in the first round.