TALLULAH, La. — In the two times that Trinity Episcopal and Tallulah Academy’s girls’ basketball teams faced each other during the regular season, the Lady Saints won handily by margins of 20 and 35 points.

That would not be the case on Saturday night in the championship game of the MAIS District 6-A Tournament. In fact, this game wasn’t decided in regulation. It took two overtimes before Trinity Episcopal prevailed with a 40-37 win over the Lady Trojans.

“It was a win. We fought through the adversity and came out with a win. We had to play a game like this. Maybe that will help us down the road. I hope so,” Lady Saints head coach Richy Spears said.

The adversity that Spears was referring to was having to adjust his defense because of foul trouble as well as overcoming missed free throws and lay-ups. They did that by holding Tallulah Academy to three points over the two overtimes.

“We had a couple of girls who got in foul trouble. Our game is (full-court) pressing. Once we got in foul trouble, we had to back off a little bit, and that’s just not our style,” Spears said.

It looked like the Lady Saints were well on their way to another easy win over the Lady Trojans after jumping out to a 16-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Lady Trojans would eventually take advantage of not having to face Trinity’s press defense the entire game because of the foul situation.

Tallulah Academy outscored Trinity 11-7 in the third quarter and 9-6 in the fourth quarter to send the game into the first overtime tied at 34-34.

“We played hard the whole game. Sometimes, the ball doesn’t bounce your way. I don’t take anything away from (Tallulah),” Spears said.

After both teams scored three points in the first overtime session, the Lady Saints won the district championship by blanking the Lady Trojans 3-0 in the second overtime. Spears said all of the players who were on the court in the two overtimes stepped up defensively.

“We had to guard their shooters. We had to defend the pain. We had to rebound. When you hold someone to three points over eight minutes… it was all of them.”

Madelyn Cross led Trinity Episcopal (22-8), the No. 1 team in Class A, with a game-high 18 points while tournament MVP Bethany Ogden scored 13 points.

Tallulah Academy was led by Rachel Walker with 13 points and Allie Kate Gossett with 12 points.

The Lady Saints, the district’s No. 1 seed, will take on the No. 4 seed out of District 7-A in the first round of the MAIS Class A South State Tournament, which will take place at Riverfield Academy in Rayville, La., at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The Lady Trojans will be the district’s No. 2 seed and will take on the District 7-A No. 3 seed Tuesday at 4 p.m.,

Trinity Episcopal boys 79,

Tallulah Academy 37

TALLULAH, La. — The boys’ championship game of the MAIS District 6-A Tournament didn’t have near the drama that the girls’ title game had. This game was over before the first quarter came to an end.

Trinity Episcopal scored 31 points in the first quarter and never looked back from there as the Saints annihilated the Tallulah Academy Trojans by 42 points to win the district championship.

By the time the first quarter was done, the Saints had a 31-8 lead. And once halftime arrived, they had themselves a 53-23 lead. Even with some of the starters being taken out and the reserves put in by head coach David King in the third quarter, Trinity outscored Tallulah Academy 19-7 for a 72-30 lead.

Tip McKenzie scored 20 points to lead Trinity, the No. 3 team in Class A, and was named the tournament’s MVP. Givonni Dent scored 14 points and Jake Winston added 11 points for the Saints (23-5). Shan Shivers led Tallulah Academy with 17 points.

The Saints will the No. 1 seed from the district and will go up against the No. 4 seed from District 7-A at the Class A South State Tournament Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. The Trojans will be the No. 2 seed and will take on the No. 3 seed out of District 7-A at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Briarfield Academy girls 40,

Tensas Academy 38

TALLULAH, La. — Despite being shut out in the fourth quarter, the Briarfield Academy Lady Rebels managed to hold off the Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs Saturday afternoon in the girls’ consolation game at the District 6-A Tournament.

Briarfield Academy doubled up Tensas Academy in each of the first two quarters en route to a 24-12 halftime lead. However, the Lady Chiefs fought back in the second half to turn what looked to be an eventual blowout into quite an interesting game.

Tensas Academy outscored Briarfield 10-0 in the fourth quarter, but its lack of scoring in the first half turned out to be the key factor in the Lady Rebels’ close win.

The Lady Chiefs were led by Sydney Lee with 18 points and Hali Matthews with 12 points. They will be the district’s No. 4 seed in the Class A South State Tournament and will take on the District 7-A champion Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Lady Rebels will be the district’s No. 3 seed and will go up against the District 7-A No. 2 seed Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Chamberlain-Hunt boys 58,

Tensas Academy 52

TALLULAH, La. — Matthew Harrigan finished with a game-high 28 points and Nicholas Sciambra added 14 points as Chamberlain-Hunt defeated the Tensas Academy Chiefs in the boys’ consolation game at the District 6-A Tournament Saturday afternoon.

Tensas Academy was led by Farrel Keahey with 19 points and Blaine Fletcher chipped in with 13 points. The Chiefs will be the No. 4 seed out of the district and will face the District 7-A champion Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. in the first round of the Class A South State Tournament. Chamberlain-Hunt will be the No. 3 seed and will take on the District 7-A No. 2 seed Wednesday at 5:15 p.m.