NATCHEZ — Christmas spirit was still alive and well for the Cathedral varsity boys at the ACCS Shootout.

That is, if “Christmas spirit” meant the Green Wave players had too much time off of basketball to spend on family time and gifts for the holiday season.

Cathedral fell to Wilkinson County Christian 66-58 in a game that Green Wave head coach Peter Arnold said was characterized by rusty play.

“We had way too many foolish turnovers and missed too many free throws,” Arnold said. “I don’t know the total count of missed free throws, but just from watching, we missed too many.”

The final tally for free throws was 8-of-25 for the Green Wave, and the struggles from the line were especially evident in the fourth quarter.

Cathedral was down only 50-45 going into the final eight minutes of regulation. Cathedral managed to hit five of 11 foul shots in the fourth, however, preventing them from staging any kind of fourth quarter rally.

“They just looked like they wanted it more,” Arnold said. “The opportunities were there, we were just out of control throwing passes away without any pressure. Basketball is a game that’s all about fundamentals, and they did a better job with that tonight.”

Arnold also said that the holiday season, and less regular practices as a result, may have contributed to the team’s sloppy play, but added that it wasn’t an excuse.

“We might be a little rusty from the holidays, but it’s the same (situation) for both teams. We weren’t as sharp tonight, but I’m sure their coach feels the same way about his team too. We were a couple of shots and free throws away, but didn’t make the plays we needed to.”

WCCA jumped out on top 19-15 after the first quarter, but Cathedral came storming back in the second quarter to take a 27-26 lead with 2:55 before the half.

Cathedral wouldn’t score for the rest of the quarter, however, as WCCA went on 9-0 to jump out ahead 35-27 at the half.

Daniel Huffines led Cathedral in scoring with 23 points. Collin Hammons added 12 points and Carl Hammitte tallied 11 points.

For WCCA, Tip McKenzie led with 25 points. Ethan Carrath scored 20 points and Luke Whitaker finished with is 12.

“We have a young team,” Arnold said. “We have eight sophomores and two freshmen (on our squad). Our starting five is four sophomores and a senior. We’ve had nights where we play well and nights where we’ve looked inexperienced. Tonight was one of those nights where we looked inexperienced.”

Cathedral fell to 5-5 on the season, 1-0 in district play.

WCCA girls 53, Cathedral 44

The second and third quarters proved to be the difference for the WCCA Lady Rams as they defeated the Cathedral Lady Green Wave Tuesday night at the ACCS Shootout.

WCCA went into the second quarter trailing Cathedral 11-8. It was during that quarter when the momentum swung in favor of the Lady Rams, who outscored the Lady Green Wave 15-10 to take a 23-21 halftime lead.

But it was the third quarter that turned out to be costly for the Lady Green Wave as they scored just six points while the Lady Rams, led by Terri Fisher and Caroline Walker, scored 13 points for a 36-28 lead. Fisher ended up with a game-high 20 points and Walker poured in 17 points. Mary Claire Netterville added nine points for the Lady Rams.

Cathedral was led by Ginny Daggett with 15 points, Ana Perry with 13 points and Epiphany Jackson with 10 points.