From

staff reports

SICILY ISLAND &8212; In a game that was indicative of two teams going in opposite directions, the Block Lady Bears defeated the Ferriday Lady Trojans 44-35 Thursday night in the first round of the Sicily Island Tournament.

&8220;We didn&8217;t play. We didn&8217;t perform today,&8221; Lady Trojans head coach Lisa Abron said. &8220;Too much Christmas. Too much holiday. I guess it was the holiday blues.&8221;

That and the play of Block&8217;s Ashley Green and Shateca Collins. Green led the Lady Bears with a game-high 22 points and Collins added 11 points.

Even though Block ended up winning by nine points, the game was close until late in the fourth quarter.

&8220;We had several opportunities to pull it out,&8221; Abron said. &8220;We were sluggish. Block was a little sluggish, too, but they wanted it more. They got a couple of steals and that was it. Block wanted it more than we did.&8221;

Abron noted that Ferriday&8217;s up-tempo style of basketball just wasn&8217;t there. And the defense had its hands full trying to contain Green and Collins.

Ferriday got off to a good start and took a 12-9 lead over Block at the end of the first quarter. And even though the Lady Bears controlled the pace in the second and third quarters en route to a 34-24 lead, there was a sense that the Lady Trojans had one last rally in them.

And Ferriday closed the margin in the fourth quarter, but untimely turnovers did the Lady Trojans in.

&8220;The score was not indicative of how close the game was,&8221; Abron said. &8220;We had a turnover, they had a turnover. Then it came down to who wanted it more.

Jalessia Davis and Briana Foster led Ferriday with 10 points each.

Columbia High boys 68, Natchez High 55

HATTIESBURG &8212; The Bulldogs were coming off their best game of the season in a win over Forrest County while the Wildcats were coming off an embarrassing 89-67 loss to Brandon.

And as Natchez High head coach Mike Martin put it, &8220;I was anxious to see how we would respond.&8221;

Unfortunately, it was Columbia (10-4), one of the top teams in Class 3A, that responded Thursday afternoon as Haji Cain scored a game-high 26 points and the Wildcats made five three-pointers in a 13-point win over the Bulldogs at the Hattiesburg Holiday Tournament.

&8220;They&8217;re a good team. Cain&8217;s a good player. They press from start to finish. They shoot threes,&8221; Martin said. &8220;They had a bad game against Brandon.&8221;

Natchez High had a chance to go 3-0 in this tournament and start the stretch run of the season with a winning record. Instead, the Bulldogs fell to 7-8.

Jason Bruce led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Kendall Logan had 11 points and DeShawn Griggs added 10 points.

The Bulldogs stayed right with the Wildcats in the first quarter en route to a 12-11 lead. But that lead didn&8217;t last long as the Wildcats, led by Cain, Nick Magee and T.J. Weems, outscored the Bulldogs in each of the final three quarters.

Columbia had a 22-17 advantage in the second quarter and a 21-14 edge in the third quarter for a 54-43 lead. Magee had 17 points and Weems finished with 12 points.

&8220;We had too many turnovers in stretches,&8221; Martin said. &8220;We&8217;d get close and we would get one or two turnovers. They had a lot of baskets off turnovers.&8221;

Centreville Academy girls 56, Tensas Academy 36

WOODVILLE &8212; Led by Shellie Vine and Amber Addington, the Lady Tigers rallied from an early deficit to defeat the Lady Chiefs (3-15) Thursday afternoon at the WCCA New Year&8217;s Shootout.

Trailing 14-11 after one quarter of play, Vine and Addington held Centreville take the lead for good as the Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Chiefs 17-5 in the second quarter for a 28-19 halftime lead.

Centreville wasn&8217;t done, however, as it outscored Tensas 20-8 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach with a commanding 48-27 lead. Vine scored 14 point and Addington contributed with 13 points.

Mary Miller Ratcliff led Tensas with 14 points and Kaitlen Emfinger was held to seven points.

Jefferson County girls 50, Wilkinson County 32

FAYETTE &8212; What started out as a close game turned out to be anything but one as the host Lady Tigers used an offensive barrage in the second quarter to turn back the Lady Wildcats at the Jefferson County Holiday Tournament.

The first quarter was a low-scoring one that ended in an 8-8 tie. While Jefferson County kept up the pressure on Wilkinson County with its defense, its offense showed up just at the right time.

The Lady Tigers, led by Veronica Miller and Sharita Wyatt, ended up outscoring the Lady Wildcats 18-6 in the second quarter and took a 26-14 lead at halftime.

Miller led all scorers with 16 points and Wyatt had 10 points for the Lady Tigers, who are on a three-game winning streak after starting the season 1-7. Toni Anthony led the Lady Wildcats with 12 points.

Ferriday boys 50, Vidalia 48

SICILY ISLAND &8212; For the second time this season, the Trojans got the better of the Vikings, this time by rallying in the fourth quarter for a dramatic win at the Sicily Island Tournament.

Matthew Smith led Ferriday with 17 points and Montrell Tennessee had 13 points as Ferriday erased a three-point deficit at the end of the third quarter by outscoring Vidalia 17-12 in the fourth quarter.

After the first quarter ended in a 10-10 tie, the Trojans took a 24-21 lead into halftime. But Vidalia responded by outscoring Ferriday 15-9 in the third quarter for a 36-33 lead.

Gary Stewart led Vidalia with 16 points while Lewis Whitley and Brandon Hawkins had 12 points each.

Centreville Academy boys 80, Ben&8217;s Ford 40

WOODVILLE &8212; Led by a balanced scoring attack that had seven of their eight players with at least seven points, including five in double figures, the Tigers had no problem defeating the Eagles Thursday night at the WCCA New Year&8217;s Shootout.

Those five players who ended up in double figures for Centreville (6-1) were Drew Davis with 14 points, Rusty Knighton with 13 points, Jared Watkins and Josh Lanehart with 12 points each, and Kyle Brown with 10 points.

&8220;We usually score 75 to 80 as a team,&8221; Tigers head coach Jason Horne said. &8220;This is my fourth season here and we usually have had one or two go-to guys. Now we&8217;ve kind of got a balanced attack. A lot of lay-ups. Pressure defense.&8221;

The Tigers showed how good they are by dominating the first quarter. They controlled both ends of the court from the opening tip and by the time the quarter was over they had a commanding 26-8 lead and the Eagles never had a chance.

Centreville increased its lead to 47-20 at halftime and then to 68-33 by the time the fourth quarter was under way.

ACCS girls 53, WCCA 25

WOODVILLE &8212; Ariana DeLaSalle scored 17 points and Katie Anne Swinny had 11 points as the Lady Rebels controlled the entire first half on their way to a 28-point win over the Lady Rams Thursday night at the WCCA New Year&8217;s Shootout.

ACCS (17-3) also got a strong performance from Andrea Browning, who finished with

10 points.

The Lady Rebels took no time in taking control of the game. They jumped out to a 16-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and then held the Lady Rams to just three points in the second quarter and by halftime the Lady Rebels enjoyed a 32-9 lead.

WCCA did manage to stay point for point in the third quarter (both teams scored 11 points), but the 23-point deficit was too much to overcome. Kate Wilkerson led the Lady Rams with 13 points.

Central Private boys 60, Trinity Episcopal 50

BROOKHAVEN &8212; For the first three quarters, the Saints played the worst basketball any Trinity varsity boys&8217; team has played in years.

And despite a furious fourth-quarter rally, Trinity was eliminated from the Brookhaven Academy Tournament by the Rebels Thursday night.

Central Private used a balanced scoring attack to going along with a tenacious defense to stay alive in the tournament. Justin Creel, Matt Creel and Jacob Lofton finished with 14 points each and Josh Sides had 10 points.

The Saints scored just seven points in each of the first two quarters and trailed Central Private 30-14 at halftime.

And they didn&8217;t do much better in the third quarter as they scored nine points. Meanwhile, the Rebels took what appeared to be a comfortable 44-23 lead as the quarter ended.

But Jon Davis King and Stevan Ridley made sure Trinity wouldn&8217;t go down easy. The Saints scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, but the Rebels scored 16 points of their own and held on for the win. King and Ridley each scored 18 points to lead the Saints.

Oak Forest boys 47, WCCA 46

WOODVILLE &8212; In a game in which Oak Forest and WCCA combined scored six points in the first quarters, the Yellow Jackets rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Rams Thursday afternoon at the WCCA New Year&8217;s Shootout.

WCCA led 31-26 at the end of the third quarter, but Oak Forest won by the narrowest of margins by outscoring the Rams 21-16 in the fourth quarter.

Mark Thompson led Oak Forest with 18 points. George Davis and Tommy Johnson had 11 points each for WCCA.

Harrisonburg girls 39, Vidalia 28

SICILY ISLAND &8212; It was a game much closer than anyone anticipated Thursday night at the Sicily Island Tournament as the Lady Bulldogs overcame a bad first quarter to defeat the Lady Vikings.

Harrisonburg, a team that normally puts teams away before the first quarter ends, played the first quarter any Lady Bulldogs team has played in quite some time. The Lady Vikings didn&8217;t do much better, but managed to take a 4-2 lead.

But the Lady Bulldogs got their act together in the second quarter and would eventually take a 15-11 halftime lead. However, they couldn&8217;t put away the Lady Vikings until the fourth quarter.

Rachel Wagoner led Vidalia with 13 points. Chandace Bordelon led Harrisonburg with 14 points.