It was almost a Christmas present come early &8212; way, way early.

It wasn&8217;t the Trinity girls&8217; win over Columbia Academy (although you may want to leave cookies and milk out for somebody just to be safe) but instead the race in District 4-AA that&8217;s appearing to be wide open.

For the first time since maybe disco was in style Brookhaven Academy isn&8217;t 15 points better than everyone else. After Columbia downed BA 47-26 and lost Saturday night at Trinity 49-36, nothing right now is safe.

At least the Lady Saints now have a clear understanding that the top spot is up for grabs.

&8220;It&8217;s definitely boosted our spirits,&8221; said TE point guard Mallory Archer, who pumped in 26 points against Columbia. &8220;We came into this game knowing they were the No. 1 team in the district, but we proved we&8217;ve got a pretty good team. If we play the way we can, we&8217;re the best team in my opinion.&8221;

The win keeps the Lady Saints in the top half of the standings so far heading into the break with plenty of basketball to be played. There&8217;s still two games with Brookhaven Academy and a road game against Columbia, but right now those are still a ways off.

The Lady Saints were able to enjoy the win Saturday night after a disappointing loss at Oak Forest the night before. And that loss may have brought the team a little closer together.

&8220;That loss (Friday) night hurt pretty bad,&8221; Archer said. &8220;After the game, everybody stayed in the locker room until the third quarter of the boys&8217; game. We got a lot out and decided we were going to have fun and play as a team, and that&8217;s what we did (Saturday).&8221;

The biggest key may have been the defense in the low post against the Cougars&8217; inside game of Taryn Magee and Sarah Slater. Magee was so strong inside despite being about 5-10, while Slater was the taller player at 6-2.

Columbia started the game out trying to hit Magee down low with a lob pass and did the same at the start of the second half. But both players got in foul trouble, and Trinity started doubling down on each when they did get the ball.

&8220;We knew that (Magee) was a good player,&8221; Hall said. &8220;We knew what we had to do with her, but they&8217;re a well-balanced team. They&8217;re a good team, but we just had the answer for them tonight.&8221;

Said Archer: &8220;We had to play good help-side, which we did a decent job of &8212; better than what we&8217;ve been doing. It was probably our best defensive game we&8217;ve had all season. You can&8217;t make a 6-2 girl post up when we don&8217;t have anybody that tall. I&8217;d rather have them shoot outside than down low anytime.&8221;

TIME FOR POSITIVES &8212; There wasn&8217;t much to build on Friday night for the Cathedral Green Wave, and the team isn&8217;t one to make excuses. But when Matt Marchbanks was battling an illness and Keylann Hinson had a sore shoulder, the team tried to do the best it could.

But in a 68-43 loss to a good West Lincoln team at home, the Wave knows things will have to get better with its guards to get back to playing good basketball.

&8220;We&8217;re a much better basketball team than we showed (Friday),&8221; CHS head coach Peter Arnold said. &8220;I know we&8217;re capable of a lot more. For us to improve as a team, we have to improve our guard play. A lot of the teams we play in district &8212; it&8217;s not that they&8217;re bigger than us, it&8217;s that they&8217;re quicker than us. Your guards have to take care of the ball, and you have to be patient on offense. We didn&8217;t do any of those things.

&8220;To me, it&8217;ll come down to being able to take care of the ball against a pressure defense and run your offense.&8221;

The Green Wave has the whole week off and won&8217;t return to action until the Wesson tournament after Christmas. The team can use a division win bad now at 0-2 with both coming at home, and the next one will be Jan. 6 at Dexter.

&8220;On the other side of it, we&8217;re 6-6,&8221; Arnold said. &8220;That&8217;s still the best record we&8217;ve had 12 games into the season in quite some time. I know we have a lot better basketball in us, and we&8217;ll continue to work hard to make it into a reality.&8221;

ANYONE GOT A SPARE BRACE? &8212; It wasn&8217;t what anyone with the Cathedral Lady Wave wanted to see. Not on a night with two starters in street clothes.

But give freshman Mandy Richardson credit Friday night. She twisted an ankle in a collision, let out a groan, hopped back up, got the steal, drove to the basket and hit Alex Nickels with a pass. Nickels put in the layup and got fouled in the process.

Richardson &8212; who played the whole game up until that point &8212; finally came out and iced the ankle. Even though it came while the game was out of reach, CHS head coach Kathy Graning took notice.

&8220;Mandy Richardson is going to be a good ball player,&8221; Graning said. &8220;You can tell she&8217;s played before. I pulled her out for the last few minutes to put some ice on it so she wouldn&8217;t do any further damage. I have four that have had ankle (problems).&8221;

PLAYING AGAIN &8212; This certainly doesn&8217;t get old, even if you&8217;re tired of seeing it or reading about it.

The finals Saturday night at the Ferriday tournament pitted Vidalia against Ferriday for the fourth time this season. They faced each other in the jamboree, in the Vidalia tournament and the Block tournament before Saturday night.

There&8217;s still the Sicily Island tournament and the two district games.

&8220;It just makes it better for district time when district gets here,&8221; FHS head coach James Davis said. &8220;It would be a good-money maker. He (VHS head coach Robert Sanders) has got some good kids. I think the problem is for some reason they&8217;re just not buying into what he&8217;s wanting to do. But he&8217;s got a group of kids.&8221;