GALLMAN — For the third time this season, the ACCS Lady Rebels took on the Amite School Center Lady Rebels. However, this third meeting between the two teams had a little more significance than the first two did.

The winner of this game would move on to the second round of the MPSA Class AA South State Tournament and be one win away from advancing to the Class AA State Tournament while the loser would have its season come to an end.

And on Tuesday afternoon, ACCS came out on top, defeating Amite School Center 67-40 despite a sluggish performance on the offensive end in the first half and a mere eight-point halftime lead.

“We had a lot of turnovers in the first half,” ACCS head coach Melanie Hall said. “Made some adjustments in the second half and played some basketball.”

Those first-half mistakes allowed Amite School Center, the No. 4 seed out of District 5-AA, to stay with ACCS, the No. 3 seed from District 3-AA and trailed just 29-21 at the half.

One of those adjustments ACCS made in the second half was a change in its defense.

“We went to a box and picked up our defensive intensity and rebounded very well. We made better decisions. To God be the glory. That’s where the credit’s going,” Hall said.

ACCS ended up with a total of 49 rebounds and outscored Amite School Center 38-19 in the second half. Sara Beth Fuller led the winning team with 16 points to go with eight rebounds, seven steals and three assists, and Ashley Morrison added nine points.

Melanie Reed led Amite School Center with 13 points and Amanda Picard chipped in with eight points.

The Lady Rebels from Natchez will have a much tougher task ahead of them as they will take on District 4-AA champion and second-ranked Brookhaven Academy Thursday at 4 p.m. The Lady Cougars will enter that game with a 31-4 record.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Hall said. “And the girls are excited and ready for the challenge.”

Huntington boys 53,

University Christian School 37

RAYMOND — Thanks to a balanced scoring attack, Huntington overcame a slow start to defeat University Christian School by 16 points Tuesday night in the first round of the MPSA Class A South State Tournament at Central Hinds Academy.

The Hounds were sluggish on the offensive end of the court in the first quarter and trailed the Flames 12-9 at the end of the quarter. But the Hounds outscored the Flames a combined 33-18 over the next two quarters for a 42-30 lead.

Five players scored at least seven points for Huntington (17-10), including a game-high 19 points from Jeremy Randall. The Hounds, the District 6-A runners-up, will take on District 4-A champion Laurel Christian School in the second round Thursday at 7:45 p.m.

University Christian School, which was the home team in this game despite being the No. 3 seed from District 5-A, was led by Zach Holyfield with 11 points.

Simpson Academy boys 69,

Centreville 64

GALLMAN — The Tigers saw their season come to an end with a five-point loss to Simpson Academy in the first round of the Class AA South State Tournament.

Centreville was the No. 3 seed from District 5 while Simpson was the No. 2 seed from District 4. No other information is available from the game.