NATCHEZ &045; What a night to be a little dead-legged.

The Tensas Lady Chiefs may have been a step slower after Monday’s win at the Adams Christian Girls’ Tip-Off Classic, and it came on the day they matched up against what many have tabbed as the best team in all the MPSA in Brookhaven Academy.

The Lady Cougars executed well in their press and gave Tensas problems before running away for a 73-31 win Tuesday.

&uot;I just think they’ve got a good team and are well-coached,&uot; Tensas head coach Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;They run a good half-court offense and set screens very well. Not to take anything away from them, but I think we were a little leg-weary from last night. But some nights you get beat by a better team, and that’s just the way it is.&uot;

The Lady Cougars executed well enough on both ends to appear like a team a month into the season. Brookhaven stayed with the press, ran the floor and executed in the half-court offense by taking it the hole and feeding it inside to the post players.

It’s nearly the same Brookhaven team from a year ago that went 43-0, and you can add another win to that streak as the new season is officially under way.

&uot;They’ve got a really nice team,&uot; BA head coach Barry Gray said. &uot;I’ll go on a limb and say they can get in and make Overall. I really do like their team. Our weakness I think as a team is going to be rebounding. We’re not rebounding as well as we did last year. Our strength is going to be our outside shooting.&uot;

The Lady Cougars threw a couple of different presses at Tensas, and things worked from the start. They opened with a 15-0 run before Tensas got on the board at the 3:30 mark with a bucket from Aubrey McEachern, but the Lady Cougars led 19-4 at the end of the first.

The Lady Cougars then opened the second quarter with a 9-3 run to lead 28-7 with 5:48 left when Holly Case scored the last of her six straight points.

&uot;I thought last year we tried to man press them, and we weren’t able to do that,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We decided to do more of a zone press, and it was really effective. We have a lot of experience out there. We ran about three of the four zones we have. I think we’ll be more of a zone-pressing team this year. It just fits us better.&uot;

But then things got tough in the halfcourt for the Lady Chiefs up against Brookhaven’s man defense. The Lady Chiefs tried to get it inside and either had trouble putting it in the basket or getting it inside.

Brookhaven kept the pressure on by using the fast-break down the floor off turnovers. Kristian Davidson scored in the post with 4:41 left for a 30-10 lead, and Kelli Byrd followed with a bucket off a steal to start an 8-0 run.

Byrd led Brookhaven with 20 points.

&uot;We’ve got to execute better, but we’re tired, too,&uot; Bauerle said. &uot;They just execute really well in thehalfcourt. They shoot really well. They can kick it out and shoot the 3, and they can take it to the hole, also. That’s the main thing about playing really good teams &045; you know where you’ve got to go and what you’ve got to shoot for.

&uot;They won Overall last year, and they lost one player. Couldn’t really tell, though, huh?&uot;

Brookhaven led 42-14 at halftime and got the lead to 23 midway through the third before McEachern hit a 3-pointer. McEachern canned two 3-pointers to lead the Lady Chiefs with 13 points.

Brookhaven led 61-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

Adams Christian 55, WCCA 9

The Lady Rebels got hot early to take a second straight win in convincing fashion.

Adams Christian led 24-1 at the end of the first quarter and held a 27-3 lead at halftime over the Lady Rams.

Katie Ann Swinny and Joy Wynn scored 10 apiece to lead the Lady Rebels.