NATCHEZ — With the Division 6-6A Tournament just around the corner, Natchez High could not afford to look past Brookhaven and ahead to the postseason.

But a win would keep the momentum going for the Lady Bulldogs going into next week’s division tournament as they went into Saturday afternoon’s home finale riding a three-game winning streak.

Natchez High will take a four-game winning streak to the tourney after the Lady Bulldogs used some tough defense and balance scoring in routing the Lady Panthers 63-28.

“Overall, I was pleased with their play. There were a few things I was dissatisfied with. But you can’t play a perfect game,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Sue Johnson said.

Keyana Miller and Jacquerra Williams led the fourth-ranked team in Class 6A with 13 points apiece to share game-highs in scoring. Taylor Argue had 11 points and Ricarla Shotwell added 10 points. Ashley Minor almost made it five players in double figures as she finished with nine points.

“We had some players who came off the bench, Taylor Argue and Rashonac Rice, that played well. They came up from the middle school and did a good job,” Johnson said.

Brookhaven never had a chance against Natchez High (18-5) in this game. The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a big lead in the early stages of the first quarter and led 17-2 at the end of the quarter. By halftime, the Lady Bulldogs enjoyed a commanding 37-9 lead and continued to add to their lead in the second half.

“They hustled real well. They played real good defense. As long as we play good defense and hustle, we’ve got a chance,” Johnson said.

Christen Benson was the only player for Brookhaven (4-15) to score in double figures as she ended up with 12 points.

The Lady Bulldogs will take on host Terry in the first round of the Division 6-6A Tournament Tuesday at 7 p.m. Natchez High will be the No. 2 seed while Terry is No. 3 seed.

Sebastopol 40, Cathedral 31

SEBASTOPOL — Sebastopol made just three shots from the field in the fourth quarter, but it was the free-throw line that helped the Lady Bobcats rally to defeat the Cathedral Lady Green Wave Saturday afternoon in Region 7-1A action.

One person who was not at all pleased with how the game was officiated in the fourth quarter was Cathedral head coach Bernita Dunbar.

“The refs took us out of the game. Two of our players fouled out. They scored 11 of their points on free throws,” Dunbar said. “Nothing went our way as far as the fouls were called on our end. We only shot four free throws in the fourth quarter.

“We actually played very well. We played a very good game,” Dunbar said.

But with Sebastopol making nearly three times as many free throws as Cathedral attempted in the final quarter, the Bobcats outscored the Lady Green Wave 17-5 to escape with the win.

Ginny Daggett led Cathedral (8-14, 4-6) with 14 points. Sebastopol was led by Katarina Pace with a game-high 15 points and Cyndel Webb with 12 points.

The Lady Green Wave will be the No. 4 seed in the Region 7-1A Tournament and will take on No. 5 seed St. Aloysius Monday at 6 p.m. in a first-round game.

Franklin County 73,

Hazlehurst 42

HAZLEHURST — If Hazlehurst had played as well in the second and fourth quarter as it did in the first and third quarter, it would have had a chance to upset Franklin County Saturday afternoon.

But it just wasn’t meant to be. Led by Vintrice Briggs and Jessica Jackson, the Lady Dawgs made it a clean sweep of Region 7-3A during the regular season with an impressive 31-point win over the Lady Indians.

Franklin County, the No. 1 team in Class 3A and the No. 8 team in the Clarion-Ledger’s Girls’ Super 10 poll, led by just one point after one quarter of play before taking over in the second quarter. The Lady Dawgs outscored Hazlehurst 17-6 to take a 31-19 halftime lead.

The Lady Indians tried their best to stay in the game against one of the best teams in the state and they actually outscored the Lady Dawgs 18-16 in the third quarter. But they still trailed by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter and that’s when Franklin County really put the game away.

With their press defense leading to easy baskets time after time after time, the Lady Dawgs scored 26 points in the final quarter while holding the Lady Indians to just five points. Briggs led Franklin County (21-1, 10-0) with 17 points while Jackson finished with 15 points.

Hazlehurst, which went 4-6 in region play, was led by Jasmine Bozeman with 17 points and Octavia Anderson with nine points.

The Lady Dawgs will be the girls’ No. 1 seed at the Region 7-3A Tournament at Hazlehurst, which gets under way next Monday. Head coach Charles Moore said he won’t know who they will play until sometime this afternoon.

Ferriday 36, Mangham 31

MANGHAM, La. — The Ferriday Lady Trojans had three players score in double figures. No one else on the team scored a single point. And yet they somehow managed to hold on for a five-point win over Mangham in a District 2-2A game Saturday night.

And those players for Ferriday were the game’s leading scorers. Chanta Poole finished with 13 points while T’Keyah Fletcher added 12 points and Keatrice Brown scored 11 points.

This was a game in which getting shots to fall was hard to come by, Mangham led Ferriday 9-8 at the end of the first quarter, but was outscored by the Lady Trojans 8-6 in the second quarter and trailed 16-15 at halftime.

The only quarter in which either team scored at least 10 points was the third quarter. Both teams scored 12 points in that quarter, giving Ferriday at 28-27 lead. The Lady Trojans outscored the Lady Dragons in the fourth quarter for the five-point victory.

Mangham was led by Sabrina Holland and Kitty Pridgett with eight points apiece.

Ferriday (12-12, 4-2) hosts Farmerville on Senior Night Tuesday at 6 p.m.