NATCHEZ — The Cathedral Lady Green Wave finally got off to the kind of start head coach Bernita Dunbar has been looking for this season.

Cathedral jumped out to a 17-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and rolled to a 50-14 win over a Mississippi School for the Deaf team that has won just one game all season and remains without a win in Region 7-1A.

“That was a plus for us tonight. The last couple of days we’ve been preaching get off to a good start from when the ball is tipped,” Dunbar said.

With the Lady Green Wave having such a big lead, Dunbar did a lot of substituting in the second quarter. And while they scored just six points in the quarter, they held Mississippi School for the Deaf to the same point total, giving Cathedral a 23-7 halftime lead.

With the starters back in for the third quarter, Cathedral outscored the Lady Bulldogs 16-2 to open up a 39-9 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Once again Dunbar did more substituting during the final eight minutes of the game, but this time the results were a little better as the Lady Green Wave put up 11 points while MSD managed just five points.

Ana Perry led Cathedral (7-12, 3-4) with a game-high 11 points and Ginny Daggett added 10 points. As for MSD (1-20, 0-8), Ranecia Winters and Shardee Bridges scored five points apiece.

“The starters really didn’t play the second and fourth quarters,” Dunbar said. As for the team’s defensive effort, she said, “It’s better than what it has been. But it’s still in spurts. It’s not as consistent as I like it, but it’s better.”

The Lady Green Wave will face a much more daunting opponent in district play Friday night when they play at Bogue Chitto, one of the top teams in Class 1A.

Trinity Episcopal 54,

Prairie View 43

NATCHEZ — For the second time in three days, Trinity Episcopal’s varsity girls’ basketball team, ranked No. 1 in Class A, hosted one of the top teams in Class AA.

After upsetting Class AA’s No. 2 team in Brookhaven Academy in overtime last Saturday, the Lady Saints pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the Prairie View Academy Lady Spartans on Monday night at Clyde Adams Arena.

Bethany Ogden and Madelyn Cross each finished with double-doubles in the game. Ogden finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds while Cross scored 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for Trinity Episcopal.

The Lady Saints held a 12-8 lead over Prairie View after one quarter of play, but the Lady Spartans chipped away at their lead over the next two quarters, leading to a 34-34 game at the end of the third quarter. But Trinity Episcopal’s defense clamped down when it needed to the most – in the fourth quarter.

Led by Ogden and Cross, the Lady Saints put up 20 points in the game’s final eight minutes while holding the Lady Spartans to just nine points. Prairie View was led by Kristin Kendrix with 14 points.

Trinity Episcopal (19-8) plays at Central Private today at 5 p.m.

Tensas Academy 47, Franklin Academy 41

ST. JOSEPH, La. — Sydney Lee and Brittany Bamburg combined to score 29 points as the Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs held off a fourth-quarter rally by Franklin Academy to defeat the Lady Cougars Monday night.

Lee led all scorers with 16 points and Bamburg ended up with 13 points to lead Tensas Academy, which got off to a slow start and was down 9-6 at the end of the first quarter. The score was tied at 21-21 at halftime, but the Lady Chiefs dominated the Lady Cougars on both ends of the court in the third quarter on their way to what appeared to have been a commanding 15-point lead, 42-27, heading into the fourth quarter.

But Franklin Academy would not go away quietly. Led by Mary Grace Hanng and Katelyn Evans, the Lady Cougars cut the lead to single digits, but simply ran out of time and their comeback attempt fell just a little short. Hanng finished with 10 points and Evans added nine points.

Tensas Academy wraps up MAIS District 6-A play today at Tallulah Academy.

Silliman 43, WCCA 31

CLINTON, La. — The Silliman Institute Lady Wildcats had plenty to play for against Wilkinson County Christian Academy Monday night in the MAIS District 5-AA finale for both teams.

While Silliman was still playing for a possible No. 1 seed in next week’s district tournament at Adams County Christian School despite a stunning loss at Centreville Academy last Friday night, WCCA was trying to play the role of spoiler. Unfortunately for the Lady Rams, it was not meant to be on this night as the Lady Wildcats prevailed with a 12-point victory.

WCCA (7-17, 2-6) will be the No. 4 seed on the girls’ side of the bracket in the District 5-AA Tournament and will take on a Central Private team that went winless in district play and is the No. 5 seed next Tuesday at 6 p.m.