GALLMAN — The Lady Saints struggled without one of their top players, and Oak Forest took advantage as Trinity Episcopal fell 52-30 in the semifinals of the MPSA Class AA South State Tournament.

While she was at the game, Madeline Cross didn’t play. She had had her appendix removed a day earlier after awaking at 4 a.m. Thursday with stomach pains.

“Her brother had his taken out a week before, and his ruptured, so they weren’t taking any chances,” coach Richy Spears said. “I don’t blame them. I’d have done the same thing.”

Still, it was a blow to a Trinity team that has relied on Cross to be a main scoring threat.

And without her there, Spears said the whole team was thrown out of whack.

“Everything was thrown out of how it normally happens,” he said. “She’s been there all year, so some people were now in some unfamiliar roles.”

Still, Trinity stayed with the Lady Yellow Jackets through three quarters, trailing by 3 points at halftime.

In the third, the deficit got a little bigger — to 8 points — before Oak Forest took over in the final eight minutes.

“Oak Forest has a tough defense, and they played real well,” Spears said. “But we showed some guts. We played hard.”

Caroline Ketchings scored 7 points and Bethany Ogden added 6 with 11 rebounds to lead the Lady Saints. Oak Forest had three players in double digits.

Trinity takes on Brookhaven at 1 p.m. today in the consolation game.

Brookhaven defeated Prairie View by 5 points Friday afternoon.

Cross will be out at least until the state tournament next week — until the soreness goes away, Spears said — and in the meantime, the Saints will have to work with what they’ve got.

“It’s just trying to get them to mold as a team without Cross, just trying to get them to play together,” he said.

Trinity boys 42, Brookhaven 39

GALLMAN — With a spot in the MPSA Class AA South State Tournament championship game on the line, Giovonni Dent made two free throws with two seconds left to give the Trinity Episcopal Saints the win over the Brookhaven Academy Cougars Friday night.

The free throws came after Trinity was called for a foul and a Brookhaven player missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 3.1 seconds left.

Andrew Johnson had four fouls by the end of the first half, and Brandon Daggs and Kent King each had four at the end of the third quarter, so the Saints decided to slow their offense down. It worked — they outscored the Cougars 8-7.

In this battle of Class AA’s top two teams, No. 2 Trinity got off to a good start and led No. 1 Brookhaven 15-11 at the end of the first quarter. At halftime, the Saints still maintained their 4-point lead.

The Cougars were not able to take advantage of the Saints’ foul trouble and trailed by 2 points heading into the fourth quarter.

Dent led District 3-AA champion Trinity (28-7) with 15 points while Daggs finished with 10 points. he Saints will take on District 5-AA champion and third-ranked Bowling Green in the championship game today at 7:15 p.m.

Blaine Roberts led District 4-AA champion Brookhaven Academy (27-8) with 13 points. The Cougars will take on fifth-ranked and District 3-AA runner-up Chamberlain-Hunt in the consolation game today at 6 p.m. The Cadets lost to Bowling Green 57-44 in the other semifinal game Friday night