The district tournament must go on in District 3-AA, and that&8217;s the plan right now at Chamberlain-Hunt despite the school&8217;s forfeiture of two games this week.

That is, for now. Coaches will meet Wednesday.

Adams Christian headmster John Gray, who serves as president of the six-team district, said Saturday plans are still on for the Port Gibson boarding school to host the tournament despite the forfeits this week due apparently to player suspensions.

CHA will host both boys&8217; and girls&8217; tournaments despite not fielding a girls&8217; team this season.

&8220;I called (headmaster) Mr. (Shane) Blanton myself,&8221; Gray said. &8220;His answer back with me was they were planning on hosting the tournament and they were going to try and have a team. The head man told me they were going to host it and have a team.&8221;

The Wildcats lost enough players this week where they had to forfeit games to Copiah Academy Thursday and Central Hinds on Friday. They came into Thursday&8217;s game with a 6-2 record in district with a firm grasp on the No. 2 spot behind juggernaut Prairie View Academy.

District coaches will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Adams Christian, and the matter will likely be cleared by then.

The matter gets tricky, Gray said, because of head-to-head tie-breakers. A forfeit goes down officially as a 2-0 loss, and it doesn&8217;t give Copiah and Central Hinds to gain a fair shake in head-to-head competition if they would finish tied in the standings.

&8220;We don&8217;t have anything in our by-laws or in the MPSA about forfeiture,&8221; Gray said. &8220;It&8217;s the federation rules. We do have in our by-laws that you have to play a round robin schedule.

&8220;I don&8217;t know officially what happened, and I didn&8217;t ask. Shane said they were planning on having a team, and what somebody said is they&8217;ll use their junior high players to finish up. But I don&8217;t know what the official word is.&8221;

In the event that CHA opts not to host the tournament, then Prairie View would be the next in line. And Gray also questioned whether or not it&8217;s possible for a school who doesn&8217;t field a team in either tournament to still serve as host.

&8220;There&8217;s nothing that would be wrong with it other than it would be unusual,&8221; he said. &8220;We&8217;re not crazy about (Prairie View). We&8217;re on that ride right now. It&8217;s about a 2 -hour drive. We&8217;re crossing our fingers Chamberlain-Hunt is going to host it.&8221;

IN K-NEED OF HELP &8212; When Monterey girls&8217; head coach Cary Shively gave his post-game speech following Friday&8217;s come-from-behind win over Epps, Brittany Woodruff couldn&8217;t get off the couch.

She had to be carried off the gym floor with 5:21 left in the fourth quarter when she suffered an injury to her left knee. It couldn&8217;t have come at a worse time &8212; Epps was leading 37-24 &8212; to lose a senior who is also one of their top players.

But everyone else, however, picked it up a little bit. Monterey outscored Epps 22-8 the rest of the way for the win.

&8220;It scared us to death,&8221; said junior Crystal McMillin, who sank the winning 3-pointer with six seconds left. &8220;I thought she was really hurt. She twisted it. We had to suck it up. We knew she was cheering us on on the bench.&8221;

Woodruff battled inside against Epps&8217; big post player Jacqueline McDowell, and she had seven points when she went down. A handful of people came out of the stands to check on her along with her coaches, but the team found a way to get it done at the end thanks to a man-to-man press that gave Epps problems.

&8220;Hopefully it&8217;s nothing serious,&8221; Shively said. &8220;She&8217;s a big part of our ball game. She&8217;s a senior, and we need all our seniors on the court.

&8220;I think (the girls) stepped it up a notch. They never quit. They don&8217;t have any quit in them and never have. They feel like they can win any time in any ball game. I told them they stepped it up a notch and took care of business.&8221;

INSIDE BLUES &8212; Of their two games this week, Wilkinson County&8217;s Lady Wildcats scored only 64 points. Defense helped in a win over South Pike Tuesday, but offensive struggles were evident Friday in a 41-27 loss to North Pike.

And it&8217;s coming in the inside. The opposition is throwing more zones at Wilkinson County than anything else. Talented senior Kim Griffin has become an threat both inside and on the perimeter.

&8220;I think we should be utilizing our inside game more than what we&8217;re doing,&8221; WC head coach Edwin White said after Tuesday&8217;s win. &8220;We&8217;re having a hard time getting it into the low post. But we&8217;ll keep working on it and working on it.

&8220;I try to confuse the defense by moving Kim inside and out. They&8217;re trying to force us to shoot it outside. They&8217;re doing a good job of doing their homework.&8221;

A WIN, FINALLY &8212; Of the three seasons the MHSAA has put Forest Hill in a basketball division with Natchez, Rebels head coach Clay Norton would groan heading into the trip to Adams County.

That ended Tuesday.

His club pulled out its first win in Natchez with a 76-64 win over the Bulldogs in 6-5A action. It&8217;s been a place where things go wrong for the Rebels &8212; including their first trip two years ago when they lost in triple overtime.

Now with a talented group of seniors, they changed that.

&8220;It&8217;s hard to win down here,&8221; Norton said. &8220;God gets the glory, the kids get the credit and I get the privilege.&8221;