From

staff reports

FERRIDAY &8212; Ferriday&8217;s Jasmine Upchurch played like anything but a sophomore as she scored 36 points and made the game-winning free throws with two seconds left as the Lady Trojans held on for a 77-75 win over Franklin Parish Tuesday night.

The Lady Patriots trailed by 12 points after three quarters of play, but got back in the game and nearly forced overtime with a 32-point fourth quarter led by their defense as well as foul trouble by the Lady Trojans.

&8220;We had two with four fouls with six minutes left. I had to sit Jasmine for a few minutes,&8221; Lady Trojans head coach Lisa Abron said. &8220;We have a young team. We have a lot of inexperienced players. They man-to-manned us. They pressed us and forced some turnovers.&8221;

Ferriday, which got its first win of the season after losing its first six games, played solid basketball during the first three quarters. The Lady Trojans led 21-15 at the end of the first quarter and increased their lead to seven points at halftime and 12 at the end of the third quarter.

&8220;We changed up the defense a little to get the tempo up some,&8221; Abron said. &8220;It was a high-scoring game.&8221;

But the Lady Trojans couldn&8217;t put the game away in the fourth quarter as Abron pointed out to the team&8217;s lack of composure in this type of situation at this level. But they had Upchurch to come through when they needed to.

&8220;The team is so young this year,&8221; Abron said. &8220;We needed a win to get our confidence up. It was a close game. Jasmine had to do it all. She had to play all five positions. She had to step up. Big game for her.&8221;

Not only was it a big game for Upchurch, but also for Briana Foster and Jasmine Butler, who finished with 20 and 10 points, respectively.

Jasmine Whitley did her best to help the Lady Patriots win the game as she led her team with 30 points. Riquette Myles had 13 points and Bethany Blackson added 10 points.

Natchez High girls 53, Jefferson County 52 (OT)

NATCHEZ &8212; Alia Frank scored 19 points, including all six points in overtime, as the Lady Bulldogs overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to edge past the Lady Tigers.

Natchez High (4-4) trailed Jefferson County 27-19 at halftime after the Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Bulldogs 19-8 in the second quarter. But the Lady Bulldogs rallied in the second half to force overtime.

&8220;We started executing our press. Capitalizing on a few turnovers,&8221; Lady Bulldogs head coach Sue Johnson said. &8220;But we made some crucial mistakes and let them get back into it. My hat&8217;s off to Jefferson County because they played a hard-fought game.&8221;

Johnson noted that her team played well in spurts, especially in the second half, but &8220;we&8217;ve got to learn to put four quarters together with some consistency.&8221;

Jefferson County scored its five points on three free throws and a field goal and would&8217;ve won the game had time not run out on the Lady Tigers.

&8220;Thank goodness time ran out,&8221; as coach Johnson put it. &8220;They were wide open for a lay-up.&8221;

Johnson went on to comment that the Lady Bulldogs did a good job of passing the ball more to the open man and at times blocking out, but she felt like the defense could&8217;ve been better.

Ke&8217;Airra Jones had 12 points and Kierra Stringer chipped in with 10 points for Natchez High. Veronica Miller led Jefferson County with a game-high 20 points and Vanteska Williams had 10 points.

ACCS girls 49, Tensas Academy 35

ST. JOSEPH, La. &8212; Ariana DeLaSalle scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Lady Rebels past the Lady Chiefs to improve to 9-1 on the season. But this was more than a game.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Lady Rebels head coach Chuck Bauerle, who led the Lady Chiefs to four MPSA Overall Tournaments. Only this time he was on the visitors&8217; bench.

&8220;It was a little bit strange,&8221; Bauerle said. &8220;Coming down here, I know all the Tensas girls and they were ready to play. I think we came ready to play.&8221;

ACCS outscored Tensas 15-8 in the second quarter to take a 29-19 lead at halftime. But the Lady Rebels didn&8217;t play with the same intensity in the third quarter and it showed as they scored just seven points.

Bauerle attributed that to the team being a little tired after playing on Monday night.

&8220;I think our legs were a little weary. We had a 10-point lead at halftime and the third quarter we were flat.&8221;

While Bauerle was happy to get the win, he was also pleased that his team played a game that was closer at the end that many of their previous wins. But one thing that kept the margin from being any bigger was that the Lady Rebels made just eight of 19 free throws.

Tensas Academy boys 35, ACCS 33

ST. JOSEPH, La. &8212; Zach Jones and Hunter Hall combined to score 31 of the Tensas&8217; 35 points as the Chiefs gave first-year head coach James Nicholson his first win of the season.

Jones led all scorers with 19 points and Hale added 12 points as the Chiefs (1-4) took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter and held on for the win. Matthew Marks led ACCS (1-2) with eight points.

Ferriday boys 60, Franklin Parish 54

FERRIDAY &8212; Kayon Wesley and LaDerek Metcalf led four Trojans in double figures with 13 points each as they overcame a slow start and rallied from an 11-point deficit after one quarter of play to defeat the Patriots.

Ferriday was down 24-13 at the end of the first quarter, but then outscored Franklin Parish a combined 28-16 over the next two quarters to take a 41-40 lead. The Trojans capped the comeback win with a 19-14 advantage in the fourth quarter.

J.C. Winn had 18 points and Brandon McFarland added 11 points to lead the Patriots.

Franklin County girls 48, West Lincoln 32

BROOKHAVEN &8212; Led by Shareka and Briana Hunt, the Lady Bulldogs took control of this game early and never looked back as they rolled to a 16-point win over the Lady Bears.

Shareka Hunt led all scorers with 19 points and Briana Hunt had 11 points as Franklin County (6-2) took a 17-6 lead after one quarter of play and 27-10 at halftime.

With most of the Lady Bulldogs&8217; starters on the bench in the fourth quarter, the Lady Bears managed to outscore them 13-5 in the fourth quarter. Kasey Smith led West Lincoln with 10 points.

Wesson girls 55, Cathedral 20

WESSON &8212; Led by Alexis Crosby and Perry Catherine Furr, the Lady Cobras jumped out to a 23-5 lead and cruised to a 35-point win over the Lady Green Wave.

Crosby scored a game-high 16 points and Furr was right behind with 15 points as Wesson took control of the game from the opening tip. Christian Dobard led Cathedral with 10 points.

Parklane girls 62, WCCA 40

WOODVILLE &8212; The Lady Rams had no answer for Parklane&8217;s Hope Swindle, who scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Lady Pioneers to an impressive win.

Parklane led WCCA by just six points, 18-12, after one quarter of play, but then put the game out of reach with a 40-13 advantage during the next two quarters.

Allie Fontenot scored 10 points to lead the Lady Rams (0-4).

Parklane boys 58, WCCA 25

WOODVILLE &8212; The Pioneers didn&8217;t have anyone score in double figures. They didn&8217;t need to as they held the Rams to just one point in the first quarter on their way to a big win.

Drew Stone led Parklane with nine points, Dayne Hogan had eight points and three other players scored seven points. Overall, 12 players for the Pioneers wound up in the scoring column. Sean Venezia led the Rams (0-3) with seven points.

Wesson boys 66, Cathedral 38

WESSON &8212; Brandt Hood scored a game-high 19 points and Cody King had 14 points as the Cobras jumped out to a 20-9 lead over the Green Wave and never looked back.

In fact, Wesson outscored Cathedral in all four quarters. The Cobras held the Green Wave to just six points in the third quarter. Juan Gray led Cathedral with 11 points.