COLUMBIA &8212; The River City Rivalry between Adams Christian and Trinity Episcopal is on. At least it will be between the Lady Rebels and the Lady Saints.

The renewal of the rivalry almost didn&8217;t happen.

Adams Christian had to battle back from a double-digit deficit to defeat Brookhaven Academy 60-46 in the first round of the MPSA Class AA South State Tournament Tuesday night at Columbia Academy.

&8220;They were 12 up on us at one point,&8221; Lady Rebels head coach John R. Gray said. &8220;We battled back in the fourth quarter. Our kids played super tonight.&8221;

Adams Christian (24-7), ranked No. 5 in Class AA, will now take on Trinity Episcopal in a battle of teams that are tied for third place in The Democrat&8217;s area private school girls poll at 1 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. The Lady Rebels also clinched a berth in next week&8217;s Class AA State Tournament at East Rankin Academy in Pelahatchie.

Katie Ann Swinny led the Lady Rebels with a game-high 24 points. Betsi Lynch led the Lady Cougars with 15 points.

&8220;It was a big win for our program,&8221; Gray said. &8220;It&8217;s just hard to beat them (Brookhaven Academy). They&8217;ve got so much tradition. Since I&8217;ve been we hadn&8217;t beaten them.&8221;

As for Friday&8217;s game against Trinity Episcopal, Gray said, &8220;It&8217;s the River City Rivalry in the big city of Columbia. They better drive over here and quit talking. Coach (Melanie) Hall&8217;s done a great job. They have a good basketball team.&8221;

But Brookhaven Academy (23-13) almost played the role of spoiler as they wanted to advance to play the Lady Saints for the fourth time this season.

The Lady Cougars had a 19-17 advantage at the end of the first quarter and then led 34-28 at halftime. After a lackluster third quarter by both teams, the Lady Rebels made sure this wasn&8217;t going to be their last game of the season as they outscored the Lady Cougars 23-5 in the fourth quarter.

&8220;Defensively, we struggled in the first half,&8221; Gray said. &8220;They did a good job attacking us in the man. The second half we went to a combo zone and man. The fourth quarter we went straight to a zone. We started rebounding good. I thought the difference was playing defense and rebounding.&8221;

Trinity girls 56, Copiah Academy 22

COLUMBIA &8212; The Lady Saints dominated the first half of their Class AA South State Tournament first-round game at Columbia Academy and the Lady Colonels, the most unlikely of teams to get this far in the postseason, never had a chance.

&8220;The girls played real well together tonight,&8221; Lady Saints head coach Melanie Hall said. &8220;We just played well offensively and defensively. We got to play a lot of players tonight. And they had fun.&8221;

With the win the Lady Saints will take on the Adams Christian Lady Rebels in the semifinals. They also clinched a spot in the Class AA State Tournament.

&8220;When you get to the tournament, every game was a big game,&8221; Hall said. &8220;Today was the day that set the tone for who moves on and who goes home. No one game is any bigger than the other. They&8217;re all big. But it should be a good game.&8221;

Trinity Episcopal (20-9) controlled the first quarter and by the time it was over the Lady Saints had a 12-1 lead.

Things got a little better for Copiah (12-23) offensively in the second quarter as it scored eight points. But not on the other end of the court as Trinity scored 21 points to take a 24-point halftime lead.

Mallory Archer led the Lady Saints with 25 points.

Tensas girls 48, Central School 33

MINDEN, La. &8212; The Lady Chiefs got off to a slow start, especially on offense, in the first half, but used a 14-2 advantage in the third quarter to pull away and defeat the Lady Pioneers.

Tensas (26-4) trailed Central 10-8 after one quarter of play and led by only two points at halftime, 19-17, before turning the game around in the third quarter.

Copiah boys 66, Trinity Episcopal 62

COLUMBIA &8212; Trinity Episcopal (16-9) gave up four 3-pointers by Copiah&8217;s Bennett Wilson and the Saints found themselves trailing 26-12 going into the second quarter.

The Saints got back in the game by outscoring Copiah (15-12) 19-12 in the second quarter and trailed by just seven at halftime. Trinity made just 18 of 32 free throws in the game.

Tensas Academy boys 40, Riverdale 37

MINDEN, La. &8212; The Chiefs overcame an 11-point deficit by outscoring the Rebels 16-2 in the fourth quarter.

&8220;We turned up our man defense,&8221; Chiefs head coach Britt Keahey said. &8220;They gave me a good birthday present.&8221;