Ashley Green, Taja Lee and Arnesha Beard combined to score 53 points as the Block Lady Bears upset the St. Mary’s (Natchitoches, La.) Lady Tigers 65-55 in a critical District 3-1A game for both teams.

“We started off kind of slow, but I guess we were excited,” Lady Bears head coach Carl Gilmore said. “But as the game progressed, we played man-to-man defense on them. We played pretty good defense on them all night.”

Green led all scorers with 26 points while Lee had 14 points and Beard added 13 points for Block, which improved to 17-6 overall and into a tie for second place in District 3-1A with St. Mary’s at 5-2. The Lady Tigers dropped to 18-4 overall.

Block was only up by five points at halftime, 25-20, and Gilmore said he knew his team would have pick it up on the offensive end if it wanted to defeat a good St. Mary’s team. And that’s exactly what happened as the Lady Bears scored 20 points in both the third and fourth quarters.

But what kept the Lady Tigers in the game was free throws. “They shot 36 free throws and we had only 14,” Gilmore noted. “They made their free throws.”

However, St. Mary’s chance at a come-from-behind win ended when Sarah French fouled out with 2:07 remaining in the ball game and the outcome still in doubt. French led the Lady Tigers with 21 points.

“They didn’t have a ball handler and a go-to player,” Gilmore said. “We shot good free throws at the end because they had to start fouling us. We played good as a team. Our energy was better in the second half than it was in the first half.”

Cathedral girls 46, Dexter 33

NATCHEZ — Brandi McGraw scored 11 points to lead a balance scoring attack as the Lady Green Wave defeated the Lady Bulldogs to finally get their first Region 7-1A game of the season.

Cathedral (3-18, 1-6) played the second half without Kristian Dobard, who had to attend a confirmation meeting at her church, which is mandatory, Lady Green Wave head coach Kathy Graning said.

“But everybody stepped up,” Graning said. “We had to make them make some shots, which is something we haven’t done. Brandi McGraw, one of my seniors, has stepped up the last three or four game and played real hard.”

Graning was especially pleased with they way the defense played, holding Dexter under 10 points in each of the final three quarters. Robin Magee led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points.

ACCS girls 60, Porters Chapel 35

NATCHEZ — With head coach Chuck Bauerle out of town, a familiar face returned to the sidelines to coach the Lady Rebels Tuesday night — John R. Gray.

And the Lady Rebels would have made both coaches proud as they jumped out to a 21-2 lead over the Lady Eagles at the end of the first quarter in this District 4-AA game and never looked back.

Ariana DeLaSalle led ACCS (26-8, 4-3) with a game-high 20 points and Katie Anne Swinny had 13 points. Bailey Williams led Porters Chapel with 13 points and Shelby Wells had 12 points.

Wingfield girls 59, Natchez High 48

JACKSON — Lauren Shoulder and Mavian Coward scored 15 points each and Kaomi Hutchins added 10 points as the Lady Falcons defeated the Lady Bulldogs in a Division 6-5A game.

Despite the loss, Koesha Bradley had an outstanding game for Natchez High (9-13, 1-5) as she led all scorers with 23 points. Unfortunately, she was the only Lady Bulldogs player to score in double figures.

Wingfield led by just four points after three quarters of play, but a 14-8 advantage in the fourth quarter sealed the win for the Lady Falcons.

Crystal Springs girls 66, Jefferson County 52

FAYETTE — Shakina Green scored 18 points and Shanea Dixon chipped in with 17 points as the visiting Lady Tigers used a big fourth quarter to pull away for a 14-point win over the host Lady Tigers in a Region 6-3A game.

Rokeiya Adams added 10 points for Crystal Springs, which trailed Jefferson County by one point at halftime, 29-28. Crystal Springs then outscored Jefferson County 17-12 in the third quarter to take a 45-41 lead.

But it was the fourth quarter that really proved to be the difference as the visiting Lady Tigers outscored the host Lady Tigers 21-11.

Veronica Miller led Jefferson County with 26 points and Vanteska Williams had 13 points.

Monterey girls 42, Grace Christian 17

MONTEREY — Melissa Simpson finished with a game-high 18 points and Madison Simpson scored 15 points to lead the Lady Wolves to a 25-point win over the Lady Warriors.

Monterey (12-17) took a 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and increased its lead by halftime to 30-7. The Lady Wolves’ defense then held the Lady Warriors to just one point in the third quarter.

Cathedral boys 51, Dexter 41

NATCHEZ — Even though the Green Wave had three players score in double figures, they had to rally from a seven-point deficit at the end of the third quarter to defeat the Bulldogs in Region 7-1A action.

Cathedral (12-13, 3-6) trailed Dexter 35-28 by the time the third quarter had come to a close. Then the Green Wave’s offense got into high gear as they outscored the Bulldogs 23-6.

Juan Gray led Cathedral with 17 points while Keylann Hinson had 13 points and Andy Lucas added 11 points.

Jefferson County boys 67, Crystal Springs 65

FAYETTE — Kadon Day wound up with a game-high 22 points and Percy Turner had 14 points to lead four Jefferson County players in double figures as the host Tigers rallied for a two-point win over the visiting Tigers in a Region 6-3A game.

Keldrick Scott and Joseph Kemp scored 12 points each for Jefferson County (20-5, 8-2), which trailed Crystal Springs 54-52 after three quarters of play before outscoring the visitors 15-11 in the fourth quarter.

Damian May led Crystal Springs with 15 points and Curtis Thomas chipped in with 12 points.

Wingfield boys 84, Natchez High 51

JACKSON — Jermaine Mallett scored 21 points and Chris Lewis, Annaza Richardson and Maurice Bouldin had 13 points each as the Falcons, ranked No. 5 in Class 5A, steamrolled to a 33-point win over the Bulldogs in a Division 6-5A game.

Wingfield (20-6) took control of the game early and had a commanding 24-8 lead over Natchez High (7-14, 0-6) by the end of the first quarter. Cameron Logan led the Bulldogs with 18 points and DeShawn Griggs added 15 points.

Grace Christian boys 55, Monterey 38

MONTEREY — The Warriors had three players score in double figures, led by J. Fontenot with 18 points and A. Hanna with 17 points, as the defeated the Wolves in a non-district game.

Beau Shivley and Landon White scored nine points each for Monterey, which couldn’t rally from a 27-13 halftime deficit.