Trinity girls win over Huntington

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 14, 2004

FERRIDAY, La. &045; While the Lady Hounds were able to hold Sierra Massey in check, the Lady Saints found some players who could pick up their game and help take the pressure off Mallory Archer in a 37-25 win.

While Archer finished with a game-high 15 points, Trinity (7-3) got major contributions from Courtney Timm and Jessica Marchbanks, who combined to score 14 points.

&uot;Neither team shot the ball well,&uot; Lady Hounds head coach Penny Moak said. &uot;We shot about 20 percent. I don’t know what they shot. Fifteen to 12 at halftime is like an AYA score. They shot it a little better than we did, but not much better.&uot;

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Moak pointed out to Archer stepping up her play in the third quarter as the turning point in the game. She also was pleased with the defense Emily Anders played on Massey, who was held to one point.

&uot;Emily did a good job on her,&uot; Moak said.

Warren 53, Natchez 49

NATCHEZ &045; The Lady Bulldogs had their chances, they just couldn’t take advantage of enough of them.

Natchez (2-7) lost to Warren Central (9-3) in the second district game this season for both teams. The Bulldogs led 47-44 with 2:46 remaining in the game, but the Lady Vikings outscored Natchez 9-2 down the stretch to take the win.

&uot;There wasn’t any doubt in my mind we had won that game,&uot; Natchez coach Sue Johnson said. &uot;You can’t say we didn’t have every opportunity to win. We just didn’t capitalize on enough of them.&uot;

Warren Central capitalized on the Lady Bulldogs’ fouls in the final minutes. The Lady Vikings scored six points off of Natchez fouls and turned the ball over only once. The Lady Bulldogs missed two free throws in that stretch and turned the ball over twice, once trailing by just two points with 26 seconds remaining.

The Lady Vikings appeared like they might run away with the game in the first half, taking a 27-18 point lead at one point midway through the second quarter.

But, like so many games between the two teams, it was a fight.

&uot;Any time we come here it’s always a battle,&uot; Warren Central head coach Donnie Fuller said. &uot;They have great size and strength inside.&uot;

That size, embodied in Natchez’s Jasmine Woods and Delequa Drake, was what kept the Bulldogs in the game when the Natchez offense was sputtering. Woods had 13 points and Drake added 12, making up more than half of the Bulldogs’ offensive production.

What Natchez failed to do was make free throws and take care of the ball. The Lady Bulldogs made just 12 of 26 free-throw attempts and turned the ball over at costly times.

&uot;Until it sinks in for them that we have to do the little things, these tight games will keep having the same results,&uot; Johnson said. &uot;But I’m proud of them, and they should know that.&uot;

St. Aloysius 43, Cathedral 38

NATCHEZ &045; The Lady Wave tightened up on defense and started to bring some pressure in its man to man, but something happened on the other end of the floor.

Shots just refused to go down.

The Lady Wave tied it up with 4:23 left at 34 when Caitlin Huffines hit a jumper, but the Lady Flashes bounced right back. Elizabeth Mazzanti hit two free throws right after to break the tie, and both teams went scoreless for the next two minutes before Sara Burrell hit a shot with 2:19 left for a 38-34 lead.

The Lady Wave ended their dry spell when Claire Kenda hit a shot with 2:01 left to trim the lead back to two, but St. Al point guard Sarah Kerat converted on a layup through traffic the next trip down the floor.

Huffines hit another shot to cut the deficit back to two, but Kerat came with a huge three-point play with 37 seconds left to virtually put the game away with the final five-point lead.

Kerat led St. Al with 21 points. Huffines’ 15 led Cathedral.

Claiborne 45, Tensas 43

BASTROP, La. &045; Three games and three losses to the same Claiborne Academy team is really starting to wear on Tensas’s Lady Chiefs.

But the season is still young.

The Lady Chiefs (7-5) had their chances at the end to stop the skid against the Lady Rebels, including a one-point lead with 1:18 left in the game. Tensas then went to the line, missed two free throws and surrendered a short jumper from Claiborne to trail by one.

The Lady Rebels then got a free throw for the two-point lead, but the Lady Chiefs missed layup and a putback attempt before the buzzer sounded.

&uot;We had possession of the ball with a little more than a minute to go and couldn’t hold on,&uot; Tensas head coach Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;It was kind of like the first game we played them. We played them over there and had three shots in the last 15 seconds of the game and couldn’t put it in. I thought we played well, and we got the ball inside well. They play man to man halfcourt pretty much the whole game, and they’re tough to play against.&uot;

The Lady Chiefs trailed 25-21 at halftime before going cold in the third as Claiborne held a 15-6 edge to lead 40-27 heading into the fourth quarter before Tensas battled back.

Aubrey McEachern led Tensas with 13 points. Claiborne’s top scorer was Haley Speer with 17.

Ferriday 54, Block 42

JONESVILLE, La. &045; The Lady Trojans overcame a slow start by holding the Lady Bears to under double digits in the second and third quarters while their offense finally showed signs of getting better as the game went on.

Ferriday (7-2) trailed 13-8 after one quarter of play, but a strong performance on both ends of the court in the second quarter led to an 18-7 advantage and a 26-20 halftime lead.

&uot;Being able to play multiple defenses confused them,&uot; Lady Trojans head coach Lisa Abron said. &uot;They’ve got a pretty good shooter and a good inside player.&uot;

Abron was referring to the Lady Bears’ Ashley Green and Corinthia Green. Corinthia Green was somewhat held in check with 18 points Friday night after scoring at will against the Lady Trojans in the Vidalia Tournament, when she scored nearly 30 points on them. Ashley Green was held to just nine points.

&uot;We really concentrated on stopping her,&uot; Abron said. &uot;Our main emphasis was to keep her off the boards. I gave one of my girls an assignment to stay with her. She had to work for each point.&uot;

Ferriday continued to slowly increase its lead throughout the second half behind the shooting of Jameca Garrison, who had 15 points, and Ashley Atkins, who finished with 11 points. Tiffany Hall chipped in with 10.

ACCS 44, ASC 30

NATCHEZ &045; Brittany

Gamberi scored 12 points to lead the Lady Rebels (10-2) to a closer-than-expected win over the visiting Lady Rebels from Liberty.

ACCS led by just one after one quarter of play at 13-12 and never could put Amite away until getting a 16-4 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Franklin 79, Lawrence Co. 51

MEADVILLE &045; Eleven players ended up in the scoring column for the Lady Bulldogs, led by Victoria Hunt, who finished with 25 points &045; which, surprisingly, was not the game-high.

That belonged to Lawrence County’s Ronesha Garner, who finished with 28 points.