JACKSON &045; Trailing by 14 points at halftime to Forest Hill on the road, things did not look good for the Natchez High Lady Bulldogs, who needed a win over the Lady Rebels in a key Division 6-5A game Friday.

And with at least the No. 2 seed in the division tournament in two weeks on the line for the Lady Bulldogs, Ke’Airra Jones made sure they would leave with a victory as her game-high 31 points enabled them to take a hard-fought 71-67 win in overtime.

Forest Hill (1-4, 5-17) did not play like a team that was having a bad season in the first half of the game. The Lady Rebels took a 15-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and then outscored Natchez 22-11 in the second quarter to take a surprising 37-23 halftime lead.

Natchez (13-8, 4-2) rallied big time in the second half, starting with a third quarter that saw the Lady Bulldogs get their offense going and a tenacious defense that led to numerous turnovers. The Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Rebels 19-9 to cut the lead to just four going into the fourth quarter.

Natchez forced overtime by outscoring Forest Hill 17-13 to force overtime with the score tied at 59-59. The Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Rebels 12-8 in overtime.

Wilkinson 66, Amite 15

LIBERTY &045; Wilkinson County got a little closer to its goal of a district championship with a dominating win over Amite County.

The Lady Wildcats (9-1, 18-5) beat Amite County 66-15 in a game that wasn’t close from the early stages.

&uot;It was a good win for us,&uot; Wilkinson County head coach Edwin White said. &uot;I feel like we’re inching a step closer to our goal, which is the district championship.&uot;

Wilkinson County jumped out to an 18-0 lead in the first quarter and then outscored Amite County 14-1 in the second to lead 32-1 at the half.

Latasha Williams had 19 and for Wilkinson County.

Cathedral 43, Vidalia 39

VIDALIA, La. &045; It was just about everything the Lady Wave could want &045; everyone played, the battled at the end and it was a win.

The Lady Wave was without some key starters at the start, but they returned for the fourth quarter to outscore Vidalia 22-8 in the fourth to take the win.

Madeline Jeansonne led Cathedral with 12. Chelsea McElwee led Vidalia with 18.

Hazlehurst 60, Franklin 54

HAZLEHURST &045; The Lady Indians’ duo of Jalissa Sandifer and Sheba Smith combined to score 45 points and a 24-10 advantage in the third quarter helped them defeat the Lady Bulldogs and move into second place in Division 7-3A.

Sandifer scored 23 points and Smith added 22 to lead Hazlehurst (15-11, 6-2), who led just 30-26 at halftime before pulling away with the big third quarter.

&uot;I thought we played hard,&uot; Lady Bulldogs head coach Charles Moore said. &uot;We had trouble with creating shots and shot selection. That just show how good our district is. We have some good teams and Hazlehurst is one of them.&uot;

Shalenia Wilcher led Franklin County (15-6, 6-3) with 17 points and Shareka Hunt had 13 points. The loss dropped the Lady Bulldogs to fourth place in the division.

Tensas 64, Franklin 26

ST. JOSEPH, La. &045; Four players scored in double figures for the Lady Chiefs, who dominated the first quarter on both ends of the court and never looked in this matchup of the best and worst teams in MPSA District 7-A.

Tensas (18-6, 8-0) took control of the game in the first quarter and by the time that quarter was over the Lady Chiefs were ahead 22-2 and the Lady Cougars (6-16, 0-8) never recovered.

Tabitha Howard led the Lady Chiefs with 19 points.

North Pike 38, Jefferson 27

SUMMIT &045; In what has been a disappointing season, the Lady Jaguars got a much-needed win over the Lady Tigers thanks to a solid first half.

North Pike (12-9, 3-5) led Jefferson (5-19, 2-10) 12-5 after one quarter and 18-9 at halftime.