From

staff reports

COUSHATTA, La. &8212; It was the rematch of last Saturday night&8217;s boys&8217; championship game of the Prairie View Tournament between Huntington and Riverdale, a game the Hounds won 67-55 to give the Rebels their first loss of the season.

Riverdale was out to avenge that 12-point loss. Only this time, the Hounds went into Thursday night&8217;s game ranked No. 1 in Class A and the host Rebels at No. 3 &045; just the opposite of where each team was ranked heading into their first showdown.

Instead, Huntington escaped with a thrilling 46-45 win thanks to a missed free throw by Eric Ebert with less than two seconds left in the game to improve to 13-1 on the season.

&8220;It was a good game,&8221; Hounds head coach David Boydstun said. &8220;They have a good bunch. We were lucky that they missed the last free throw. We didn&8217;t take care of the ball.&8221;

Ebert penetrated the lane, split two Huntington players and drew a foul with 1.7 seconds left. Ebert made the front end of a one-and-one, but missed the second. The Hounds grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock.

&8220;They almost didn&8217;t, but they held their composure, but it was rough down to the last couple of minutes,&8221; Boydstun said.

The first quarter went back and forth with Riverdale (15-2) taking a 13-12 lead at the end of the quarter. The second quarter, however, belonged to Huntington as the Hounds outscored the Rebels 13-5 to take a 25-18 halftime lead.

&8220;We pushed it open and had some good momentum,&8221; Boydstun said. &8220;We were up eight or 10. We turned the ball over a few times that I thought we fouls and that helped them get back in the game.&8221;

Unfortunately for the Rebels, they could only cut one point off the Hounds&8217; lead by the end of the third quarter.

Riverdale girls 38, Huntington 34

COUSHATTA, La. &8212; The Lady Hounds were trying to win for the third time in four games after an 0-11 start. And after three quarters, it appeared they were on their way to doing so.

Instead, the Lady Rebels got out of their recent funk &045; three straight losses and four in the last five game &045; by rallying in the fourth quarter, outscoring Huntington 10-2 to take a four-point win.

&8220;They changed to a man-to-man,&8221; Lady Hounds head coach Penny Moak said. &8220;We were actually leading. We were trying to run the clock out. We turned the ball over a bit. We fouled a bit more in that corner, too.&8221;

Although this isn&8217;t the Lady Rebels teams of seasons past, they rarely lose on their home court. But the Lady Hounds weren&8217;t intimidated at all as they led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter and 22-14 at halftime.

&8220;The first half was great,&8221; Moak said. We played hard in the first half. Second half, we kind of fell apart.&8221;

Leslie Wagoner led Huntington with 11 points. Lauren Nealy led Riverdale with a game-high 12 points.

Wilkinson County boys 65, Clinton (La.) 45

LIBERTY &8212; Lawrence Cage, Corey Anthony and Mitchell Thompson combined to score 52 points as the Wildcats got back in the winning column with an impressive win over the Eagles at the Amite County Tournament.

Cage led Wilkinson County (12-3) with 22 points. Anthony finished with 17 points and Thompson contributed with 13 points as the Wildcats pulled away in the second half after Clinton got back in the game in the second quarter.

Wilkinson County started off the game with a flurry on the offensive end en route to a 22-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Eagles rallied in the second quarter, holding the Wildcats to just seven points while cutting their lead to just five points, 29-24, at halftime.

But the Wildcats answered the Eagles&8217; rally by outscoring them 15-7 in the third quarter and 21-14 in the fourth quarter. Clinton&8217;s L. Loyelle led all scorers with 26 points.

Wilkinson County girls 56, Clinton (La.) 39

LIBERTY &8212; Thanks to a dominating performance by the Lady Wildcats in the first and third quarters, they got back to the .500 mark with a 17-point win over the Lady Eagles at the Amite County Tournament.

Toni Anthony had another solid game for Wilkinson County (7-7) as she finished with a game-high 25 points and Tyeshia Lee scored 19 points, two nights after she was held to three points in a loss to Jefferson County Tuesday night.

The Lady Wildcats literally won the game in the first and third quarters. They took a nine-point lead over Clinton, 11-2, after one quarter of play and then outscored the Lady Eagles by eight points, 20-12, in the third quarter. The other two quarters, both teams scored the same number of points.

W. Bankston led Clinton with 16 points and S. Stanley chipped in with 14 points.

Ferriday girls 61, Franklin Parish 56

RAYVILLE, La. &8212; Trailing 53-46 to the Lady Patriots at the end of the third quarter, things didn&8217;t look too good for the Lady Trojans in day one of the Rayville Tournament.

Then came the fourth quarter. Led by Jasmine Upchurch and Jasmine Butler, Ferriday outscored Franklin Parish 15-3 to rally for a stunning five-point win. Upchurch finished with 25 points and Foster had 12 points.

Both teams&8217; offenses were showcased in the first quarter as the Lady Trojans took a 22-20 lead at the end of the quarter. But the Lady Patriots took control in the second and third quarters.

Franklin Parish outscored Ferriday (5-10) 17-10 in the second quarter for a 37-32 halftime lead and 16-14 in the third quarter for a seven-point lead as the fourth quarter got under way.

Excelsior Christian boys 81, Ferriday 46

RAYVILLE, La. &8212; The Dunn brothers were once again too much for the Trojans to handle as Lacedarrius and Davarius Dunn combined for 44 points as the Jaguars cruised to a 35-point win at the Rayville Tournament.

Lacedarrius Dunn led all scorers with 27 points and Davarius Dunn had 17 points. Lamont Woods added 19 points and Jarrell Scott chipped in with 12 points for Excelsior Christian.

On the other hand, only one player scored in double figures for Ferriday. Joshua Upchurch led the Trojans with 12 points.

The Jaguars took a 23-14 lead after one quarter of play and a 25-7 advantage in the second quarter gave them a commanding 48-21 halftime lead and put the game out of reach.