FERRIDAY — Ferriday head coach Lisa Abron was not at all pleased with the way the Lady Trojans played in the first half of their game against Jena Tuesday night despite having the lead at halftime.

Even though Ferriday is in Class 2A and Jena is in Class 3A, Abron could have treated this game as if it were a District 2-2A game. And the way the Lady Trojans came out and played the third quarter, it was a good thing the Lady Giants are not in their district.

Led by Chante Poole and Keatrice Brown, as well as change in how the tempo of the game changed from one half to another, Ferriday opened up a close game and went on to defeat Jena 54-34.

And while Ferriday led Jena 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and 29-22 at the half, Abron was not happy that her team was allowing the Lady Giants to use their game plan as efficiently as they did. The Lady Trojans also allowed the visiting team to stay in the game thanks to several missed shots.

“We started off kind of cold in the first half. I gave them a good talking to at halftime. I told them we’ve got to show them we’re trying to do something in district,” Abron said. “I chewed them out. We were playing their kind of slow-down basketball.”

The Lady Trojans took the Lady Giants completely out of rhythm in the third quarter with their defense and doing a better job rebounding the ball that led to many fast-break opportunities in which the Lady Trojans took advantage of.

Ferriday (10-12) ended up outscoring Jena 17-4 in the third quarter for a 46-26 lead. Poole led all scorers with 26 points and Brown added 15 points. With such a big lead, Abron did a lot of substituting in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Trojans play host to Sterlington in a key District 2-2A game for both teams Friday at 6 p.m.

Natchez High 54, Vicksburg 44

VICKSBURG — Vicksburg fans thought they smelled an upset in the making as the Missy Gators led Natchez High 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. That was until the second quarter got under way.

Natchez High, ranked No. 4 in Class 6A, rallied from that early deficit by outscoring Vicksburg 16-4 in the second quarter for a six-point lead at halftime as the Lady Bulldogs went on to defeat the Missy Gators by 10 points Tuesday night.

The Lady Bulldogs (16-5) don’t play again until next Tuesday night when they travel to Woodville to take on Wilkinson County.

Trinity Episcopal 62, Central Private 41

BAKER, La. — For the second straight game in as many nights, Trinity Episcopal’s duo of Bethany Ogden and Madelyn Cross had double-doubles in leading Class A’s No. 1 team past the Central Private School Lady Rebels Tuesday night.

Ogden scored 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while Cross ended up with 20 points and 11 rebounds for Trinity Episcopal, which took a 15-8 lead over Central Private and never looked back from that point.

Trinity Episcopal (20-8) hits the road to McComb to take on Class AAA Parklane Academy this Saturday afternoon.

Jefferson County 60, Tylertown 44

FAYETTE — Taylor Mims scored a game-high 22 points as the Jefferson County Lady Tigers survived an up-and-down first half to defeat the Tylertown Lady Chiefs in Region 7-3A action Tuesday night.

Bailey added 11 points and Buck chipped in with 10 points for Jefferson County. Shatorah Youngblood led Tylertown with 12 points and Kizzy Coleman had 11 points.

Jefferson County plays at Hazlehurst on Friday.

Bunkie 53, Vidalia 21

BUNKIE, La. — Nekia Jerull led a balanced scoring attack for Bunkie with 11 points as the Lady Panthers rolled past the Vidalia Lady Vikings in District 3-3A action Tuesday night.

With the exception of the second quarter, Bunkie had its way with Vidalia on both ends of the court. This game was pretty much over in the first quarter, which ended with the Lady Panthers having a 19-6 lead.

And even though Bunkie scored just five points in the second quarter, Vidalia managed to score a mere two points. The Lady Vikings (0-7 in District 3-3A) were led by Kisha Swanson with eight points.

Vidalia visits Jena on Friday night.

Tallulah Academy 70,

Tensas Academy 38

TALLULAH, La. — Allie Kate Gossett and Megan Givens combined to score more points than Tensas Academy had as a team in leading Tallulah Academy to an easy 32-point win Tuesday night in an MAIS District 6-A game.

Gossett finished with a game-high 28 points while Givens scored 23 points for the Lady Trojans, who will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s district tournament at Tallulah Academy.

Brittany Bamburg led the Lady Chiefs with 17 points and Sydney Lee had 10 points.