ST. JOSEPH, La. — Tensas Academy proved to be a much tougher opponent for Adams County Christian School than perhaps expected, but the Rebels rallied from an early deficit to defeat the Chiefs 77-65 Friday night.

ACCS head coach Rick Fife was not too pleased with the way his team played defensively in the first quarter, which ended with the Rebels trailing the Chiefs 21-17. But the Rebels went to a full-court press defense in the second quarter, which allowed them to shift the momentum in their favor.

“I thought we came out slow in the first quarter,” Fife said. “We came out with the press early in the second quarter. Our defense was our best offense tonight. That ended up helping out a lot.”

ACCS outscored Tensas Academy 18-13 in the second quarter to take a one-point halftime lead. But the Chiefs still trailed by just one point as the quarter came to an end.

Led by Lee Swinney and Joe Barksdale, the Rebels finally put away the Chiefs with a 24-13 advantage in the fourth quarter. Swinney and Barksdale each finished with 19 points to lead the Rebels. Daniel Guedon had 13 points while Bryce Murray had 12 points.

Austin Emfinger led Tensas Academy with a game-high 24 points.

WCCA 71, Tallulah Academy 42

TALLULAH, La. — Todd Gonda scored a game-high 19 points and Luke Whitaker had 16 points to lead four WCCA players in double figures as the Rams cruised to a 29-point win over the Trojans Friday night in the District 6-A opener for both teams.

WCCA (6-3, 1-0) led by just five points at the end of the first quarter, but the Rams responded by outscoring Tallulah Academy 22-5 in the second quarter to take a commanding 37-15 at halftime.

Tip McKenzie added 14 points and Christopher Houghton chipped in with 12 points for the Rams. The Trojans were led by Fortenberry with 14 points and S. Shivers with 10 points.

Jim Hill 66, Natchez High 59

JACKSON — Jim Hill erased a six-point halftime deficit by outscoring Natchez High 21-13 in the third quarter and went on to defeat the Bulldogs by seven points Friday night in Division 6-5A action.

Natchez High was looking to keep the momentum going after rallying to defeat Terry for its first division win of the season last Tuesday night. In the first half, the Bulldogs were doing just that and by halftime they were up 32-26.

But the second half was a different story as the Tigers stormed back to take the lead at the end of the third quarter and added to their lead in the fourth quarter.

Jeremiah Johnson led Jim Hill (5-5, 1-0) with 15 points. Brandon Anderson had 14 points and Allante Wilson had 13 points. Jeremy McMorris led Natchez High (6-6, 1-2) with a game-high 26 points, but he was the only Bulldogs player to score in double figures.

River Oaks 46, Huntington 39

BASTROP, La. — Vincent Moore scored a game-high 22 points and Will White finished with 16 points as the Mustangs held on for a seven-point win over the Hounds Friday night in the single-elimination Prairie View Academy Tournament.

River Oaks jumped out to a 17-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Huntington cut into the lead during the second quarter. At halftime, the Hounds trailed 27-18.

The Mustangs were able to hold off Huntington in the second half and eliminate the Hounds from the tournament.

Kevin Brown led Huntington with 13 points and Tyler Peré had nine points.

Tensas Academy girls 55, ACCS 29

ST. JOSEPH, La. — The Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs ended the pre-district portion of their schedule with an impressive 55-29 win over the Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels Friday night.

Mary Miller Ratcliff and Jordan Leake led the way for Tensas Academy with 17 points each and Mary Elizabeth Crigler added eight points. Defense was the key to the Lady Chiefs’ win over a young ACCS team.

“I thought we played well — we shot the ball well tonight, better than we have the last couple of games. We played real good on defense,” Lady Chiefs head coach Chuck Bauerle said. “We started out a little slow for the first few minutes of the game.”

Even though Ashley Morrison and Sara Beth Fuller led the Lady Rebels with 14 and 12 points, respectively, only two other players managed to reach the scoring column. ACCS tried its best to stay with Tensas Academy in the first half, yet found itself trailing 18-11 after one quarter of play and 34-21 at halftime.

“We were double concerned with Ashley Morrison. We tried to double-team her every time she got the ball,” Bauerle said. “We let Sara Beth get away from us in the first half. The second half, we made sure we stayed on her.”

The Lady Chiefs then put the clamps on the Lady Rebels in the third quarter, holding them to a mere two points. By the time that quarter had come to an end, the Lady Chiefs had a 45-23 lead.

“Both teams played hard. It was a good win for us. We needed a good one on our belt going into district,” Bauerle said.

Tensas Academy, 8-6 on the season, will being District 6-A play next Friday night when it hosts Tallulah Academy. ACCS will hit the road to take on Oak Forest Academy in Amite, La., next Friday.

Natchez High 55, Jim Hill 40

JACKSON — Anastasia Hutchins and Jameka Watkins have not been known for their scoring so far this season for the Natchez High Lady Bulldogs, but that changed Friday night in a big win over the Jim Hill Lady Tigers.

Hutchins finished with 17 points and Watkins had 14 points to go along with Keosha Bradley’s game-high 19 points. With Alia Frank still recovering from minor knee surgery, Lady Bulldogs head coach Sue Johnson knew her players had to step up and Hutchings and Watkins did just that.

With the win, Natchez High improved to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in Division 6-5A while Jim Hill dropped to 4-6 overall and 0-1 in division play.

A sluggish first half for both teams ended with Natchez High leading 21-13. Both teams picked up the pace offensively in the second half, but the Lady Bulldogs would not let the Lady Tigers back in the ball game.

Tallulah Academy 54, WCCA 35

TALLULAH, La. — After getting off to a slow start, the Tallulah Academy Lady Trojans took over the game in the second quarter en route to a 19-point win over the WCCA Lady Rams in the District 6-A opener for both teams Friday night.

Tallulah Academy (N/A, 1-0) led just 7-6 after one quarter of play, but then put the game out of reach by outscoring WCCA 19-8 in the second quarter and 13-5 in the third quarter.

S. Book led Tallulah Academy with 22 points. Allie Fontenot led WCCA (6-4, 0-1) with 19 points, but Mary Claire Netterville was held to just six points.

Prairie View 57, Huntington 36

BASTROP, La. — The first quarter proved to be key for the Prairie View Academy Lady Spartans in their 19-point win over the Huntington Lady Hounds Friday night in the Prairie View Academy Tournament.

With the loss, Huntington (6-8) was eliminated from this single-elimination tournament.

The Lady Spartans set the tempo for the game with a dominating performance in the opening quarter on both ends of the court. By the time the clock hit all zeroes, they had a 28-9 lead.

Prairie View would extend its lead to 27 points at halftime and Huntington was unable to stage a second-half rally.

Caroline Oliphant led the Lady Spartans with 11 points. Abi Brown led the Lady Hounds with 13 points.