NATCHEZ &8212; Even though it was just the first game of the season, Adams Christian head coach John R. Gray was pleased his Lady Rebels defeated Riverfield 41-25 Wednesday night at the ACCS Tip-Off Tournament.

What Gray was not pleased with was how the Lady Rebels played after jumping out to an early 17-0 lead and allowing the Lady Raiders to get back in the game against the No. 4 team in Class AA.

&8220;For the first game of the season, we played extremely well for the first five or six minutes,&8221; Gray said. &8220;Then we got disorganized for two and a half quarters.&8221;

But Katie Ann Swinney and Ariana DeLaSalle ignited a fourth-quarter charge with a 6-0 run in the first 52 seconds that gave the Lady Rebels a 10-point lead and essentially put the game out of reach

Led by Swinney, Adams Christian (1-0) made its first four shots and had an early 8-0 lead before the Lady Raiders knew what hit them. The Lady Rebels extended their lead to 17-0 late in the first quarter.

&8220;Pre-game hitters,&8221; Riverfield head coach Cleo Head. &8220;You can&8217;t give a team like AC 17 points and expect to do anything. Turnovers were a killer. They&8217;re a good team.&8221;

But coach Head made two big changes that changed the momentum to the Lady Raiders.

He got Cathy Antley off the bench and into the game late in that quarter, and her three-pointer with about 29 seconds left gave the Lady Raiders their first points of the game.

&8220;She&8217;d been sick all week,&8221; Head said. &8220;We didn&8217;t know how much she was going to play. She played more that she should&8217;ve.&8221;

But Antley gave Riverfield the spark it needed. That and a change from a man-to-man defense to a zone defense that caused ACCS to go without a field goal in the entire second quarter. She led the Lady Raiders with nine points and 11 rebounds.

The change in defense also made it impossible for the Lady Rebels to get the ball inside to Mattie Geoghegan, who had eight points and seven rebounds.

Riverfield (0-1) outscored ACCS 10-3 in the second quarter and trailed just 20-15 at halftime, and just like that the Lady Rebels looked beatable.

&8220;Riverfield&8217;s a good basketball team,&8221; Gray said. &8220;They&8217;ve got three or four good athletes.&8221;

Swinney, who finished with a game-high 15 points to go with nine rebounds, hit a three-pointer for the Lady Rebels early in the third quarter, but the only scoring they got the rest of the quarter was on a free throw by DeLaSalle, who finished with 10 points despite making just four of 13 free throws. DeLaSalle also had six rebounds and three steals.

&8220;They&8217;re a combination we usually go to,&8221; Gray said of DeLaSalle and Swinney.

Luckily for ACCS, Riverfield managed to score just five points in that quarter and still trailed 24-20 going into the fourth quarter. And it would have been just a two-point lead for the Lady Rebels had Anna Crawford made both free throws in a two-shot situation with 5.7 seconds to go in the third.

And speaking of players who played well off the bench, ACCS&8217;s Laura Guedon had a solid game with six points, six rebounds and two steals.

&8220;Tonight in spurts we were real good and real bad,&8221; Gray said. &8220;Our passing, rebounding and free throws were not good at all.&8221;

Oak Forest 46, Centreville 40

Centreville had a two-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but Oak Forest&8217;s Elizabeth Lee made two huge 3-pointers after being held scoreless in the first half to help the Lady Yellow Jackets pick up their first win of the season.

Brittany Boatner led Centreville (1-1) with 17 points.