The biggest challenge may not have been pulling it off. It was trying to do so without cracking a smile.

And it&8217;s not like Adams Christian had been keeping this play in its bag of tricks all season. The Lady Rebels put it in the day before, and Friday against Trinity Episcopal head coach John R. Gray called for it in the fourth quarter.

When the Lady Rebels in-bounded the ball from mid-court following a timeout, everyone lined up at the wrong basket as if the game was still in the first half. Trinity&8217;s Lady Saints followed suit. The ball went to Brittany Gamberi, who put in a layup, got fouled and converted the three-point play with 2:05 left in the game.

That put the Lady Rebels&8217; lead at 43-28, and they claimed a 49-37 win over the Lady Saints that day en route to a South State championship.

&8220;I&8217;m ashamed to say this &8212; we call it the team we&8217;re playing,&8221; Gray said. &8220;We see if they remember what goal they&8217;re at. We&8217;ll look like we&8217;re trying to go to the other goal. It&8217;s one of those trick plays, and it worked. I think that was the play that got us over the hump mentally.&8221;

Gray admitted he put the play in the day before the game. It&8217;s a seldom-seen play, although it&8217;s one Warren Central head coach Donny Fuller has used &8212; successfully, too &8212; in recent seasons.

The Lady Rebels were hoping they could pull it off without anyone cracking a smile.

&8220;I can&8217;t believe it worked,&8221; Gamberi said. &8220;Coach Gray said it would. I was sitting there saying, &8216;Oh my God, they&8217;re actually falling for it.&8217;&8221;

Said Katie Ann Swinny: &8220;We had talked about it. We thought practice was over (Thursday), but he said, &8216;Let&8217;s do one play.&8217; Coach said (during the timeout), &8216;OK, Let&8217;s do it.&8217; They fell for it. Yesterday was the first time we had practiced it.&8221;

It certainly did push the momentum more in the Lady Rebels&8217; favor, although Trinity never quit and hit some 3-pointers down the stretch to keep the deficit tight. The Lady Saints struggled early with some close shots around the basket but kept fighting on the defensive end.

Emotions ran high throughout the contest with players, coaches and fans. But the Lady Saints bounced back the next night with a 31-27 win over Bowling Green to land the No. 3 spot in the South.

Both will go this week in the state tournament at East Rankin.

&8220;I think it was just lack of execution on our part,&8221; Trinity assistant coach Howard Jones said after Friday&8217;s game. &8220;I&8217;m not taking anything away from them. We just didn&8217;t execute well on either end. The girls are very disappointed. One thing I know &8212; they&8217;ll have their heads up and ready to play tomorrow.&8221;

As far as the series, Gray said there&8217;s no reason the two Natchez teams shouldn&8217;t play each season. For the last two seasons Trinity and Adams Christian played each other in the crosstown showdown but failed to do so this season.

Gray, who said this is his last season coaching, hopes to make it happen next season.

&8220;I&8217;ve fired the coach at Adams,&8221; he joked. &8220;It&8217;ll be a relaxed situation for me and everybody else. The kids need to play each other. With my health, I don&8217;t need that kind of stress. Now it&8217;s over. Fans are always going to be there in the city, and we know that. But the kids need to get along.&8221;

GROWING UP &8212; She&8217;s a big reason why Natchez High&8217;s Lady Bulldogs are finishing the season with a flurry.

Freshman post Alia Frank came up big Tuesday night in a win over Ferriday when she finished with 15 points while battling against bigger Jasmine Upchurch, and on Friday Frank tossed in a team-high 18 points in huge 48-43 win over Warren Central to finish out the regular season.

Frank had spent most of the season bouncing in and out of the lineup along with Ashley Morrison, another freshman, before catching on in recent weeks.

&8220;I&8217;m just trying my best,&8221; Frank said after Tuesday&8217;s win. &8220;It&8217;s new to me going straight to varsity. They were moving fast. I&8217;m getting used to it now, and we&8217;re getting better.&8221;

The Lady Bulldogs finished the season winners of four of their last five games, and the win over Warren Central Friday was their first over a Class 5A team this season. They finished Division 6-5A without win, but they&8217;re hoping to change that this week at the division tournament at Jim Hill.

They will face No. 1 seed Wingfield in the first round.

&8220;Defense, without a doubt, kept us in that (Tuesday) game, although we missed some assignments,&8221; Natchez High head coach Sue Johnson said. &8220;But they didn&8217;t quit. We&8217;re a young team. We&8217;ve got only one senior. We&8217;re going to keep on. I&8217;m not going to give up on them. We&8217;ll keep on until they understand what we&8217;re trying to get them to understand. Once they understand, we&8217;ll be OK.&8221;

CALLING JIM MORA &8212; Playoffs? Ferriday&8217;s Lady Trojans will find out Tuesday whether or not they&8217;ll get in the playoffs as a wild card in the Class 2A&8217;s new playoff format.

For the first time only the top two teams from each district earn automatic playoffs bids &8212; 2A and 4A changed this season while others will take the top three &8212; with 10 teams earning wild card spots.

How the LHSAA determines wild cards remains to be seen, but there is no power point system for basketball. FHS head coach Lisa Abron hopes it&8217;s by overall records &8212; how else could it be done? &8212; after her team finished 21-6 despite a 2-4 mark in District 4-2A.

If not, it would be her first time in nine seasons as head coach and 13 seasons overall that the Lady Trojans have missed the playoffs.

&8220;Unlucky 13,&8221; Abron said. &8220;I don&8217;t know how they&8217;re going to determine it. I hate to be in this type of position. I&8217;ve always been able to determine how it&8217;s going to be. Now we have to sit here. It&8217;s making me uneasy. I don&8217;t like to be in this position.&8221;