WOODVILLE — For much of the first five weeks of the season, Wilkinson County head coach Trimeka Gaines had to wonder when the Lady Wildcats were going to a win a game.

Her prayers were finally answered Tuesday night as Wilkinson County defeated the Jefferson County Lady Tigers 57-47 in Region 7-3A action thanks in large part to some good defense in the first quarter and having four players reach double figures in scoring.

“Hustle and teamwork,” Gaines said about the keys to her team’s stunning win. “We knew that we had to stop them from scoring and capitalize on all the mistakes they made.”

And that’s exactly what happened in the game’s first eight minutes. But those mistakes were not the result of a full-court press defense causing a lot of turnovers.

“We missed some lay-ups. Some easy shots,” Lady Tigers head coach Flora McKnight said. “We played well, but we missed too many easy baskets.”

Jefferson County wound up scoring just four points in the opening quarter and trailed Wilkinson County by nine points.

Led by Taylor Mims and Keiquanae Smith, Jefferson County finally picked up the tempo in the second quarter and outscored Wilkinson County 15-11, but still trailed 24-19 at halftime.

And this is a Jefferson County team that is without junior point guard Malikia Graves, who went down with an ACL injury during practice before the 2010-2011 season started.

“She was the one that was going to make everything go,” McKnight said. “We’re struggling, but we’ll put it together.”

But the Lady Wildcats made sure that the Lady Tigers’ attempted rally would come up short in the second half. Led by Tyeshia Harris and Breshiana Day, Wilkinson County put up 13 points in the third quarter to Jefferson County’s 12 points.

Harris led all scorers with 20 points and Day chipped in with 12 points for the Lady Wildcats (1-10, 1-1).

“Tyeshia and Breshiana stepped up for us,” Gaines said. “I’m in the start of a new beginning for us. Tonight proved that they do have a feeling to win.”

And those two got some help from Lineasia Palmer and Malesia Flack, who finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Wilkinson County put the game away with a 20-16 advantage in the fourth quarter.

“It was a big loss for our team,” McKnight said.

Wilkinson County steps out of division play when it hosts Port Gibson Friday at 6 p.m. while Jefferson County (3-4, 0-1) is once again on the road Friday when it takes on Region 7-3A rival Franklin County, the No. 9 team in the Clarion-Ledger Super 10 poll and the No. 2 team in all of Class 3A, at 6 p.m.

Wilkinson County boys 55, Jefferson County 54

WOODVILLE — Devin Fosselman scored 11 points while Kenyon McDonald, Marcus Robinson and Delanie Ross added 10 points apiece as the Wilkinson County Wildcats held on for a one-point win over the Jefferson County Tigers in a Region 7-3A game Tuesday night.

“We held on. We had the lead. They tried a game-winning shot. The clock expired and the ball went out of bounds,” Wilkinson County head coach Ronald Hines said.

Robinson scored six of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and Hines added that he did a good job getting some key offensive rebounds.

After scoring just nine points in the first quarter, the Wildcats outscored the Tigers 22-13 in the second quarter to take a 31-26 halftime lead. That, and holding Jefferson County to only five points in the third quarter, proved to be critical for Wilkinson County.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers mounted a serious comeback and ended up scoring 23 points. However, the Wildcats scored 16 points and that was just enough for the victory.

M. Brown led Jefferson County with a game-high 13 points while B. Ellis had 11 points and J. Anderson added 10 points.

Wilkinson County (3-6, 2-0) plays host to Port Gibson at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Jefferson County travels to Meadville for a Region 7-3A encounter with Franklin County Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Plainview girls 73, Block 70 (OT)

GLENMORA, La. — Skylar Chendert scored 39 points and Latoya Perkins had 19 points as the Plainview Lady Hornets, the No. 6 team in the Class C girls’ power rankings, held on to defeat the Block Lady Bears in overtime Tuesday night.

Desiree Savage did her best to give Block a chance for the upset win on the road by scoring a game-high 47 points. However, she was the only Lady Bears player to score in double figures. Their next high scorer was Ashley Ledet with nine points.

Plainview (12-5) rallied from a five-point deficit at the end of the third quarter by outscoring Block (4-3) 16-11 in the fourth quarter. The Lady Hornets then outscored the Lady Bears 11-8 in overtime.

Block boys 68, Plainview 40

GLENMORA, La. — What was a good game in the first half ended up being a blowout win for Block thanks to a big third quarter as the Bears finally picked up their first win of the season.

Block (1-4) led Plainview 10-8 after one quarter of play and 27-19 at halftime. Then the Bears picked up the defensive intensity in a big way during the third quarter. They would end up outscoring the Hornets 23-3 in that quarter to take a commanding 50-22 lead.

Preston Bowman led the Bears with a game-high 17 points and Antoine Bowie added 16 points. Plainview (6-9) was led by Erby Thompson with 14 points.

Natchez High vs. Lawrence County postponed

NATCHEZ — Natchez High was originally scheduled to go on the road to Monticello to take on Lawrence County Tuesday. However, because both schools have exams this week, Lady Bulldogs head coach Sue Johnson said the junior varsity and varsity games have been postponed until Tuesday, Dec. 21 starting at 4 p.m.

Natchez High’s ninth-grade, junior varsity and varsity boys’ teams host Vidalia on Friday starting at 5 p.m.