RAYVILLE, La. — The Franklin Academy Lady Cougars probably wished that their game Wednesday afternoon against top-ranked Trinity Episcopal varsity girls’ team would have been postponed another 24 hours.

The Lady Saints held the Lady Cougars scoreless in the first quarter, jumping out to a big lead as they rolled to a 51-18 victory in the first round of the MAIS Class A South State Tournament at Riverfield Academy.

It was something head coach Richy Spears did that allowed Trinity Episcopal to get going on the offensive end after a surprisingly slow start.

“At the beginning of the game we were dragging around, and I called a timeout. Then we picked up the intensity,” Spears said. “Defense was the main thing. We were able to get pressure on them. We executed the press pretty well.”

By the time the first quarter had come to an end, the District 6-A champion Lady Saints were comfortably in control with a 24-0 lead. Once halftime arrived, they were ahead 36-7. Bethany Ogden led Trinity Episcopal (23-8) with 21 points and Madelyn Cross ended up with 12 points.

The Lady Saints came close to shutting out the Lady Cougars in the third quarter like they did in the first quarter. But Franklin Academy, the No. 4 seed out of District 7-A, was able to score two points, yet still trailed 17-9 after three quarters of play.

The Lady Saints’ quality of competition will get a lot tougher on Friday at 1 p.m. when they take on fourth-ranked and District 7-A No. 2 seed Claiborne Academy in a semifinal contest. They also qualified for next week’s Class A State Tournament at Benton Academy with their win on Wednesday.

Bowling Green 55, ACCS 46

COLUMBIA — The Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels entered the MAIS Class AA South State Tournament as the No. 1 seed out of District 5-AA and had a bye into the quarterfinals.

That was despite losing two of their last three district games to finish tied with Silliman Institute and Centreville Academy and not being able to play a single game in last week’s district tournament because of winter weather cancellations.

All ACCS needed was one win to qualify for next week’s state tournament. That would not be the case as the Lady Rebels were upset by the Bowling Green School Lady Buccaneers in a quarterfinal round game Thursday afternoon at Columbia Academy.

“It was a hard-fought game. The kids left it all on the court. In victory or defeat, we give God the glory,” Lady Rebels head coach Melanie Hall said. “We were fouling at the end. I kept telling my kids to play hard.”

Brandis White scored a game-high 23 points to lead ACCS, but no other player on the team scored more than five points.

Hall said the lack of a district tournament likely had some effect on her team.

“I think there’s always good points and bad points with that. The good side is if you get leg weary, you can get your feet under you. The down side is not being able to have that competition. That can hurt sometimes.

“We try to work hard in practice, and that was our competition. I just tell them to stay focused. They were ready. It just didn’t fall our way tonight.”

Bowling Green, the No. 2 seed out of District 4-AA, led ACCS 8-6 after one quarter of play and then outscored the Lady Rebels 17-12 in the second quarter to take a 25-18 lead into halftime. Led by Melissa Crowe and Caroline Hiak, the Lady Buccaneers made sure the Lady Rebels did not have any opportunities to close the gap too much in the second half.

Crowe led Bowling Green with 18 points and Hiak finished with 17 points while McKayla Dykes added 11 points.

And while the Lady Rebels’ season ended sooner than expected, Hall said she was proud of what the team was able to do and is looking forward to next season.

“I have four seniors. Only two of those four have high school playing time. I have absolutely no juniors. I had a group of sophomores and one freshman. To go 18-6 and accomplish what they did, it’s pretty amazing,” Hall said. “We won district for the second straight season. When the girls look back on what they did, it’s pretty incredible. I’m looking forward to the future.”

Hazlehurst 72,

Jefferson County 57

HAZLEHURST — Jasmine Bozeman had 18 points and Kiara Shannon added 16 points as the Hazlehurst Lady Indians defeated the Jefferson County Lady Tigers Wednesday night in the first round of the Region 7-3A Tournament at Hazlehurst High School.

A total of eight players — four from each team — ended up scoring in double figures. But it was Hazlehurst’s players who put up the most points. Anderona Fuller finished with 12 points and Octavia Anderson chipped in with 11 points for the fourth-seeded Lady Indians.

Hazlehurst took a 15-10 lead over Jefferson County at the end of the first quarter and slowly added to its lead to keep the Lady Tigers at bay despite outscoring them by no more than seven points in any quarter.

Taylor Mims led fifth-seeded Jefferson County with 18 points while Haley Turner, Jerlyn Johnson and Brandy Buck each had 10 points.

The Lady Indians have a tall task in front of them today at 4 p.m. when they take on top-seeded Franklin County, the No. 1 team in Class 3A and the No 7 team in Clarion-Ledger’s Girls’ Super 10 poll, in the girls’ semifinals.