JACKSON — For the first time in nine days, Trinity Episcopal did not have any of its basketball games played on its home court after they were originally scheduled to be on the road.

After having MAIS District 6-A games against Briarfield Academy (last Friday – cold weather) and Huntington School (last Tuesday – water issues due to the cold weather) moved to Clyde Adams Gym, Trinity’s varsity teams hit the road to take on Hillcrest Christian School Thursday night.

On this night, the home teams prevailed. The Lady Cougars, ranked No. 5 in Class AA, defeated the Lady Saints, No. 5 in Class A, 56-45 in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate.

However, the varsity boys game wasn’t anywhere near that close as the Cougars, the second-ranked team in Class AA, led by as many as 32 points and rolled to a 77-57 win over the Saints, the second-ranked team in Class A.

In the varsity girls game, Hillcrest led 15-8 after one quarter of play, but Trinity managed to tie the game three times in the second quarter and trailed by just one point, 26-25, at halftime. After a low-scoring third quarter, the Lady Cougars put the game away with a 21-14 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Brandis White led the Lady Saints (15-5) with 18 points and Bethany Ogden scored 12 points. The Lady Cougars (13-6) were led by Breanna Howard with 19 points and Beverly Bailey with 13 points.

In the varsity boys game, Trinity was hoping to get off to a good start if were to have any chance of defeating a very good Hillcrest team. Even though both teams went into this game ranked No. 2 in their respective classifications, the Cougars were too much for the Saints.

Hillcrest jumped out to a 20-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. Even though Trinity’s offense got on track in the second quarter, its defense could not slow down Hillcrest and the Saints trailed 44-25 at halftime. After the Cougars put the game out of reach in the second half, they put their bench players in. The Saints made the final margin more respectable as they outscored the Cougars 21-13 in the fourth quarter.

Austin Hartzog led Hillcrest (18-2) with a game-high 26 points and Josh Rogers chipped in with 12 points. Trinity (10-6) was led by R.J. Fleming with 19 points, Givonni Dent with 14 points and Kent King with 12 points.

Tensas Academy boys 44, Franklin Academy 34

ST. JOSEPH, La. — It was a tale of two halves for the Tensas Academy Chiefs Thursday night against the Franklin Academy Cougars.

Tensas Academy could not get much going on the offensive end in the first half. But in the second half the shots were going in and the Chiefs rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat the Cougars by 10 points.

“We were ice cold in the first half and flat,” Chiefs head coach Allen Crigler said. “We pressed a little bit in the second half. Played pretty good in the second half.”

The Chiefs scored just three points in the first quarter and were down 18-11 at halftime. The switch to a press defense helped Tensas Academy in the third quarter as the Chiefs outscored Franklin Academy 15-7 to take a 26-25 lead. The Cougars, apparently stunned by what happened in the third quarter, could not regain in the fourth quarter that they had in the first half.

Austin Emfinger led Tensas Academy (4-8) with a game-high 18 points and Jon Truman James added 13 points. Caleb Kratzer was the leading scorer for Franklin Academy with 16 points.

Silliman girls 56, WCCA 40

CLINTON, La. — The first quarter was one the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Lady Rams would rather forget as they scored just one point on a free throw, fell behind by double digits and could not recover in a 16-point loss to the Silliman Institute Lady Wildcats Thursday night.

This was a key game in MAIS District 5-AA for both teams as they looked to stay within striking distance of the Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels, who are currently 3-1 in district play.

WCCA did not make a single field goal in the entire opening quarter, which ended with Silliman leading 15-1. Had the Lady Rams played the first quarter the way they did in the final three quarters, the outcome could have been a lot different.

Over the next two quarters, the Lady Rams outscored the Lady Wildcats 27-25. And yet they still trailed by 12 points heading into the fourth quarter.

Terri Fisher led WCCA (8-11, 2-3) with 14 points and Mary Claire Netterville had 12 points. Sydney Sones finished with a game-high 17 points and Kayla Davidson poured in 15 points for Silliman (10-9, 3-1).

WCCA boys 56, Silliman 39

CLINTON, La. — Ethan Carruth and Tip McKenzie combined to score 40 points to lead the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Rams to a 17-point win over the Silliman Institute Wildcats in an MAIS District 5-AA game.

WCCA got off to a good start in this important district game and led Silliman 21-14 at the end of the first quarter. However, the Wildcats would not go away quietly as they outscored the Rams 10-7 in the second quarter to trail by just four points at halftime.

But any thoughts of Silliman finally getting its first win in district play this season quickly evaporated in the third quarter as WCCA had a 13-7 advantage for a 41-31 lead.

The Rams then outscored the Wildcats 15-8 in the fourth quarter.

Carruth led WCCA (9-9, 2-3) with 24 points and McKenzie had 16 points. Austin Gayle led Silliman (5-11, 0-4) with 13 points.