HAZLEHURST &045; After being upset by the seventh-seeded Port Gibson Blue Waves Thursday night, the Jefferson County Tigers had to prove they were worthy of being a number three seed in the Region 7-3A Tournament.

And to do that they had to take on a top-seeded Amite County team that was upset by fifth-seeded North Pike Thursday.

Jefferson County accomplished that by defeating the Trojans 55-52 Friday night in the third-place game of the tournament at Hazlehurst.

&uot;I knew going in this would be the most balanced district tournament in quite some time,&uot; Tigers head coach Marcus Walton said.

&uot;And this proves that with a No. 5 seed and a No. 7 seed in the finals.&uot;

Jefferson County (14-18) will

play at the loser of the Crystal Springs-Prentiss game at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Class 3A South State first-round game.

Dudley Guice Jr. led the Tigers with 21 points and Christopher Carradine had 13 points.

The Tigers got off to a slow start offensively and trailed 9-6 to Amite County (16-7) at the end of the first quarter.

But Jefferson County went on a tear in the second quarter and outscored the Trojans 23-10 to take a 29-19 halftime lead.

&uot;The second quarter we established our up-tempo game that we’ve been trying to establish all season,&uot; Walton said. &uot;The kids played some aggressive defense. We led by 10 or 12 much of the game.&uot;

Amite County wasn’t able to get a rally going until the last six minutes by playing some aggressive defense of its own, but the Tigers held on for the win.

Wilkinson girls 46, Franklin 41

The Lady Wildcats appeared to be on their way to finishing in fourth place after blowing a nine-point at the end of the first quarter.

But the fifth-seeded Lady Wildcats played strong defense in the fourth quarter to pull off the upset win over the second-seeded Lady Bulldogs.

&uot;We had a mental breakdown at the end against North Pike (Thursday) and we lost by one point,&uot; Lady Wildcats head coach Edwin White said. &uot;Tonight we played the same type of game versus Franklin County. Up and down.&uot;

After Franklin County (15-7) had cut the lead to one in the last few minutes of the game, Wilkinson County (18-11) got a steal and layup from Latasha Williams to give the Lady Wildcats a three-point lead.

Then Latoya Bailey blocked a shot and Nakia Stewart was fouled and made both free throws to seal the win.

Williams led Wilkinson with a game-high 17 points and Erika Lewis had 12 points.