FERRIDAY, La. &045; Things were looking for good for Tensas Academy against nemesis Claiborne &045; at one point, almost too good.

That’s because the foul trouble started settling. As the fourth quarter went on, Whitney Alford drew a fifth foul and exited the game. Then Tabitha Howard. Then Aubrey McEacharn. Then Sarah Beth Melville, and the game was still a ways from being over.

Claiborne managed to tie it and send it into overtime with the Lady Chiefs having four starters on the bench, and the Lady Rebels came away with a 58-47 win

in overtime to claim the South State championship.

Tensas (22-7) will head into the Class A state tournament next week at Delta Academy as the No. 2 seed and will likely open against Deer Creek.

&uot;Just couldn’t hang on &045; that’s all you can say,&uot; Tensas head coach Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;That was a tough way to lose. When we went into overtime, we were in bad shape. I had four starters on the bench, and it was kind of a sinking feeling. It’s just one of those things. It just fell apart at the end of the ball game.&uot;

The Lady Chiefs built up a double-digit lead in the second half before running into foul problems and led 33-28 heading into the fourth quarter. Once the foul troubles hit, Claiborne started pecking away at the deficit and trailed by two with 20 seconds left before making a layup to tie it up.

Megan Bauerle missed a shot at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime.

There the Lady Rebels outscored Tensas 14-3 to put the game away.

Haley Spear led the Claiborne charge as she finished with 22 points, eight coming in the overtime period.

&uot;When we got into overtime, everything just went their way,&uot; Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;That’s all I can say. Every layup they shot went in. Everything (Spear) threw up went in. But we know we’ve got another shot at it. We’ll start again next week. But give them credit. They did a good job. Claiborne hangs in there, and we knew they wouldn’t give up. That’s just part of it.&uot;

Howard led Tensas with 18 points.

C. Hinds 56, Trinity girls 41

NATCHEZ &045; Once again, the Trinity Lady Saints fought hard.

That was what was really important to Trinity coach Melanie Hall, she said.

Throughout the first half of their game against Central Hinds in the consolation game of the MPSA Class AA South State Tournament Saturday, Trinity played aggressive defense and got some points from it’s offense, including 14 from leading scorer Mallory Archer.

In the third quarter, the Lady Saints defense couldn’t hold back a 16-point effort from Central Hinds and it cost Trinity the game. The Lady Saint (18-13) fell 56-41 to Central Hinds (26-14) and will be the No. 4 seed at next week’s state tournament.

&uot;After our first game this season, who would have thought we’d get here? We did,&uot; Hall said. &uot;The kids, they’re winners inside. Now we have to get ready for probably Leake Academy in the first round.&uot;

Saturday’s game was tight in the first half, with six lead changes and five ties. But when Central Hinds took a 26-25 lead with 7:20 left in the third quarter on Hannah Gardner’s jumpshot, it was all over.

That’s not to say the Lady Saints were out of it, but they never again led in the game and the Lady Cougars started a 16-3 run that lasted the entire third quarter, all but winning the game in that span.

At the end of that third quarter, in which Trinity scored just three points, the Lady Saints trailed by 12. Trinity, generally not a high-scoring squad, couldn’t make up the difference. The Lady Saints’ offense came up with 13 in the final quarter, but Trinity was forced to foul to stop the clock and Central Hinds scored 16 points, including six from the charity stripe.

That third-quarter run by the Lady Cougars didn’t take the life out of Trinity, but it made things much harder.

&uot;If we had the defensive intensity we had in the fourth quarter for all four quarters, it would have been a different game,&uot; Hall said. &uot;That’s no secret &045; you have to play four quarters every game if you want to win.&uot;

WCCA boys 63, Newton 52

DEKALB &045; The Rams used their defense to get a win over Newton Academy, but they had to survive a scary fourth period after leading for the entire second half.

&uot;It was a wild fourth quarter,&uot; WCCA head coach Ray Olive said. &uot;They were going all out trying to steal the ball and both teams were scoring. We had 24 and they had 20. We had some chances to pull away but they kept coming back.&uot;

The Rams (16-14) beat Newton in the consolation game of the Class A South Central State Tournament, securing the No. 3 seed in the state tournament next week.

WCCA took a 26-18 lead into halftime after outscoring Newton 16-6 in the second period.