NATCHEZ — The Trinity Episcopal girl’s basketball team played hard and aggressive on defense, leaving Central Private defenseless in a 60-23 blowout win Saturday.

Central Private had no answer for Trinity’s full-court press, and head coach Richy Spears said the strong defensive performance was exactly what he wanted to see.

“That’s the way we’re supposed to play defense — get after it all the time,” Spears said. “There was stuff we needed to work on that we hadn’t worked on in practice, and we got up and played pretty well today.

“We preach pressure, which I think matches my personality. I like to call it organized chaos.”

Trinity opened the game with an 18-0 run in the first six minutes. Madeline Cross scored eight points during that run, and Bethany Ogden added five points.

Central Private finally got on the board with a two-point basket at the 2:18 mark in the first quarter.

“When you have athletic people like we do, that’s what you have to do, play full-court press,” Spears said.

“Our girls read well, move well and run well. I’ve been here for two years doing it, so we ought to know what to do by now.”

Trinity led 27-4 after the first quarter, and Spears opted to play his backups most of the second quarter. Although the reserves only managed 10 points in the second, they never let Lady Rebels back into it, limiting them to 12 points in the second quarter.

“There’s no drop off defensively (from the starters to the backups),” Spears said. “That’s how we practice. You have to be tense, and you have to have pressure on them.”

Trinity led 37-16 at the half, and one more quarter from the starters put the game away for good. The Lady Saints scored 16 unanswered points in the third quarter, and kept the Lady Rebels to two points.

Trinity’s backups saw most of the action in the fourth, holding the Lady Rebels to five points while scoring seven.

Bethany Ogden led Trinity with 18 points. Madeline Cross scored 16 points and Margaret Ward tallied nine points.

Trinity (6-3) will travel to Prairie View Tuesday.

Central Private boys 110, Trinity Episcopal 76

NATCHEZ — Central Private’s trio of Taylor Fletcher, Simpson Anderson and Dave Jackson combined to score 83 points as the Rebels defeated the Trinity Episcopal Saints Saturday night.

Fletcher led all scorers with 30 points while Anderson finished with 29 points and Jackson had 24 points for Central Private, which took control of the game by taking a 23-8 lead over Trinity Episcopal, one of the top teams in Class A, at the end of the first quarter.

The Saints tried their best to rally by putting up 22 points in the second quarter. Yet they still trailed by 12 points at halftime, 42-30. And despite the efforts of Tip McKenzie and Givonni Dent, the Rebels had too much firepower to contain. McKenzie ended up with 27 points and Dent had 25 points for Trinity (1-2).

Central Private scored 34 points in both the third and fourth quarters to put the game away. Lance Wicker contributed with 15 points for the Rebels.

Trinity Episcopal travels to Bastrop, La. to take on Prairie View Academy next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Patrick Jones contributed to this story