WOODVILLE &045; As much effort on the defensive side that was there, that wasn’t quite enough.

Instead both Adams Christian and Bowling Green got locked into a defensive struggle where neither team threatened to break the 30-point barrier. The Lady Bucs had just two field goals the entire second half, but they came away with a 27-25 win Friday at the WCCA Shootout.

&uot;I’m real pleased with their effort,&uot; AC head coach John R. Gray said. &uot;We just can’t shoot the ball and make it go in the goal. We held them to a couple field goals the second half and got beat. When you do that, you should win. I’m pleased with their effort, but they played like it was the holiday break today.&uot;

The Lady Rebels (12-4) had chances going down the stretch but never could convert on an opportunity. The biggest came when Genna Yelverton canned a 3-pointer with seven seconds left that trimmed the lead to the final two, but the team had no timeouts left to call and were forced to foul.

Only they didn’t foul, and the Lady Bucs got the ball underneath Adams Christian’s press to run out the clock.

That was one of the few times Bowling Green got past the Lady Rebels’ press. It helped them get back in the game in the second and fourth quarters when they went to the 1-2-1-1 press.

Bowling Green held a 26-17 lead with 3:12 left in the game until Nikki Emanuel hit one of two free throws. Bowling Green missed on four straight free throws, and AC got one from Katie Ann Swinny before she hit a bucket with 1:16 left to trim it to 26-21.

Swinny, who led all scorers with 10 points, hit one of two free throws with 46 seconds left to trim the lead to 26-22, but Bowling Green got a free throw from Jessica Crowe for a five-point lead.

Both teams turned it over on a possession in the final 30 seconds before Yelverton canned the triple.

&uot;The press worked fine,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We’d give up a couple of rebounds and putbacks in the first half, but other than that I was pleased. You hold somebody to 27 points, and you should be able to do a little better than that. (The press) is getting a little better.&uot;

Amite girls 40, Centreville 29

The Lady Rebels got hot in the second and third quarters to stun Centreville in the third game of the tournament.

Amite outscored the Lady Tigers 12-4 in the second quarter to lead 18-10 at half and 11-7 in the third to lead 29-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Oak Forest girls 56, WCCA 13

The Lady Rams’ offensive struggles continued in the third quarter as Oak Forest raced out to a 35-11 lead at half and held a 14-0 edge in the third to lead 49-11 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Jackets led 21-3 at the end of the first.

Centreville 81 boys, Amite 46

The Tigers got hot on the offensive end with points aplenty after taking a 22-9 lead by the end of the first quarter and outscoring Amite 19-9 in the second for a 41-18 lead.

Brandon Patin and Parker Berry led Amite with 18 apiece.

Oak Forest 49 boys, WCCA 44

The Rams were in good shape for claiming their first win of the tournament by holding a 33-32 lead after three, but the visitors from Amite, La., wouldn’t stand for it.

The Yellow Jackets outscored WCCA 17-11 in the fourth quarter to claim the win.

The Rams (4-9) trailed 18-15 at halftime but outscored OFA 18-14 in the third to claim the one-point lead.

Randall Miller led Oak Forest with 13 points. Lavalle Johnson led WCCA with 11.