NATCHEZ &045; It’s going to be a busy week for basketball players, coaches and fans across the Miss-Lou.

With just about every high school team in action, the days will be filled with the sounds of basketballs bouncing on hardwood and sneakers scraping.

Monday will start things off right with four local teams in action: Wilkinson County Christian Academy at Huntington, Cathedral at Wesson and Tensas at Porter’s Chapel.

Wilkinson County Christian Academy faces Huntington for the second time this season.

The WCCA boys fell to Huntington the first time around, losing a 40-17 decision.

&uot;We’ve been playing them for a while now, but we’re just hoping to give them a better time tomorrow,&uot; WCCA head coach Ray Olive said.

In the first game, Huntington put heavy pressure on the WCCA guards, something Olive says his team is better prepared to handle now.

For a small school like WCCA where many athletes play multiple sports, the basketball team has been hurt by waiting for some football players to finish their season first.

&uot;We have to get out of football mode and into basketball mode,&uot; Olive said. &uot;We’ve got half an offensive line playing, but we just haven’t had enough practice time until now.&uot;

In their first matchup, the Lady Hounds built a six-point halftime lead, then pulled out in the second half to get a 55-24 win.

Huntington’s Erin Hedrick has missed three games this season because of illness and an injured ankle. Hedrick is arguably the team’s best player, and her absence has put more pressure on younger players.

&uot;Some of our younger players have been inconsistent,&uot; Huntington head coach Penny Moak said. &uot;Against good teams, we just don’t handle the pressure. But we spent a lot of time over the holiday working on our shooting and scrimmaged some of our alumni, and I think they’ll get better as the season goes on.&uot;

WCCA has struggled to counter pressure defenses this season and head coach Paul Hayles said the team has been working on its ballhandling to take care of that.

When the Lady Rams can get their half-court offense set up, they’re pretty good. The trouble has been getting the ball down the court to set up the offense. Huntington used a trap-and-press defensive attack to make that difficult for the Lady Rams the first time around.

&uot;The joke around here is, we’re not bad at our half-court offense, we just can’t get to it,&uot; Hayles said. &uot;We played pretty well for the first half, but we just couldn’t hang with Huntington the second half. But they’re coming around now, we’ve worked hard on our ballhandling.&uot;

Cathedral at Wesson

Cathedral boys coach Peter Arnold is preparing his team for a rematch with Wesson. Two weeks ago, the Green Wave was handed a 47-point loss at home by Wesson, and Arnold aims to have a different result this time.

&uot;Call me crazy, but I’ve been telling the boys they have an opportunity to play someone who beat us by 47. We just have to control the tempo and slow things down, but they have an opportunity to beat them,&uot; Arnold said. &uot;I’m just dumb enough to believe we can do it.&uot;

The key for the Green Wave will be slowing the speed of the game down. Cathedral likes to run half-court sets and play tough defense, while Wesson prefers to press and trap to set up its transition offense.

If Cathedral can slow the game down, the Green Wave should be able at least to make a better showing than two weeks ago.

Cathedral is still trying to replace a number of departed seniors from last year’s team and get the team on one page. The Green Wave hasn’t played a game in nearly two weeks which has given them some time to practice and incorporate a number of players who were busy with football.

&uot;We’re getting there,&uot; Arnold said. &uot;We only have two starters back &045; Matt Goss and Matthew Hall &045; and we’re just trying to find our way.&uot;

The Cathedral girls will also take on Wesson tonight.

The Lady Green Wave have struggled at times this season with inexperience, but things may be turning their way as the season goes on. Kristian Dobard in particular has stepped up her game, providing the team with a rebounder and a scrappy player who will fight hard.