For most of the season the Tensas Lady Chiefs had played some good teams close, only to end up on the losing end of the scoreboard.

Tuesday night’s game with the Trinity Lady Saints at Clyde Adams Arena turned out to be another close game, but the Lady Chiefs would not let this one get away as they came away with a 54-49 win.

Now Tensas has a two-game winning streak for the first time this season and has won its MPSA District 7-A opener.

“It just means everything to us,” Lady Chiefs head coach Allen Crigler said. “It’s our chance to get back and beat some teams that beat us earlier in the season. We got our other strong team in district coming up Friday in Tallulah.”

Tensas (5-15, 1-0) used a 1-3-1 defense that worked in the first half. Trinity was held to just eight points in the first quarter and 10 in the second quarter. Led by Kaitlen Emfinger and Mary Miller Ratcliffe, the Lady Chiefs took a 28-18 halftime lead.

But the Lady Saints finally found some holes in the 1-3-1 defense and took advantage of it in the third quarter as they outscored the Lady Chiefs 20-11 to trail by just one point, 39-38, at the end of the quarter.

Brandy Hall led Trinity (6-6, 1-1) with 18 points on six three-pointers and Sandy Hall had 10 points.

Emfinger finished with a game-high 24 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range and 5-of-6 at the free-throw line. Ratcliffe had 19 points, including 2-of-3 from long distance and 5-of-6 at the line.

Jefferson County girls 84,

Bailey 24

FAYETTE — Coming off a second-place finish at its own holiday tournament last week, the Lady Tigers were hoping to keep their momentum going as the stretch run of the season started.

And that’s exactly what happened Tuesday night as they routed the worst team in Region 6-3A in the Lady Knights of Bailey by an astonishing 60 points. Not only that, the Lady Tigers won for the fourth time in five games and notched their first win in region play.

Vanteska Williams led the way for Jefferson County (5-8, 1-2) with 15 points and Veronica Miller chipped in with 13 points. Miracle Anderson led Bailey with nine points.

Jefferson County boys 76,

Bailey 65

FAYETTE — The first half, and more specifically the first quarter, proved to be key for the Tigers as they defeated the Knights in a battle for first place in Region 6-3A.

Jefferson County (14-3, 2-0) once again got strong performances from Kadon Day, Keldrick Scott and Percy Turner. Day led the Tigers with a game-high 25 points. Scott added 17 points and Turner contributed with 13 points.

The first quarter was the main key to the Tigers’ win Tuesday night as they scored 25 points en route to an eight-point lead by the end of the quarter. Although they didn’t score quite as many points in the next two quarters, they still managed to increase their lead.

Tony Mabry finished with 19 points and Corey Simmons chipped in with 13 points for Bailey, which fell to 2-1 in region play.

Trinity Episcopal boys 84, Tensas Academy 45

NATCHEZ — Despite losing two straight games at the Brookhaven Academy Tournament last week to drop to 2-3, the Saints still went into Tuesday night’s District 7-A game with the Chiefs ranked No. 5 in Class A.

And the Saints played like a team worthy of that ranking as four players scored in double figures en route to a 39-point win over the Chiefs.

Stevan Ridley scored a game-high 18 points and Jon Davis King had 17 points for Trinity (3-3, 2-0), which held Tensas (0-1 in district) in single digits in the first three quarters.

R.J. Fleming and Andrew Johnson added 10 points each for the Saints, who had their reserves in for the fourth quarter, one in which the Chiefs actually had a 22-20 edge.

Hunter Hale and Austin Emfinger led Tensas with 17 points each. Emfinger connected on five three-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Franklin Parish boys 61, Vidalia 58

VIDALIA — An up-and-down season continued for Vidalia as the Vikings blew a double-digit lead and lost to a bad Franklin Parish team Tuesday night.

The Vikings were on fire in the first quarter as they scored 21 points and had a 10-point lead. Then they went ice cold in the second quarter and the Patriots took advantage.

Franklin Parish outscored Vidalia 18-8 in the second quarter and the game was tied at 29-29 at halftime. Vidalia’s offensive woes continued in the third quarter and by the time the fourth quarter was under way, the Patriots had a 39-36 lead.

The Vikings had their opportunities in the fourth quarter, but the Patriots answered every attempted rally.

Brandon Hawkins led Vidalia (8-6) with 22 points. Ricky Washington and J.C. Winn led Franklin Parish with 15 points each.

Franklin Parish girls 44, Vidalia 18

VIDALIA — Jasmine Whitley, Megan Love and Jasmine Jones combined to score 36 points as they rolled to a 26-point win over the Lady Vikings.

The 36 points the three Lady Patriot players scored was double the points that Vidalia scored as a team. Whitley finished with 14 points. Love had 12 points and Jones added 10 points.

Vidalia was not able to get any offensive rhythm going against a stingy defense by the Lady Patriots. The Lady Vikings were led by Rachael Wagoner with 10 points.