BENTON — Bethany Ogden overcame early foul trouble to finish with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Madelyn Cross nearly had a triple-double as the Trinity Episcopal Lady Saints defeated the Bayou Academy Lady Colts 58-31 Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the MAIS Class A State Tournament at Benton Academy.

With the win, the South State champion and top-ranked Lady Saints (26-8) advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will take on the winner of the Wednesday night’s Humphreys Academy-Rebul Academy game today at 5:15 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal jumped out to a 19-5 lead after one quarter of play and was never seriously challenged by Bayou Academy, the North No. 4 seed, the rest of the game.

“The first quarter I thought we played pretty well. Then we got in some foul trouble. But overall, I though we played pretty well on defense,” Lady Saints head coach Richy Spears said. “I had a bunch of people play. It wasn’t all the starters all the time.”

With both Ogden and Sarah Bryan picking up their seconds fouls midway through the second quarter, the reserves came in and did a good job of making sure the Lady Colts would not make a run going into halftime. Instead, the Lady Saints ended up with a 10-9 advantage for a 29-14 lead.

“It took away from some of our main pressure. We tried some other things. They all played hard,” Spears said.

Spears said Ogden was able to overcome early foul trouble.

“It’s just the way our offense is set. In the third quarter, she got some easy lay-ups,” Spears said.

In the third, Trinity went back to its main press and it paid dividends by forcing Bayou Academy to turn the ball over numerous times — just like in the first quarter. The result was the Lady Saints outscoring the Lady Colts 19-6 for a commanding 48-20 lead.

Cross also scored 22 points to go with her nine steals and eight rebounds.

“She played well today. She was getting to the basket and doing the things she is capable of. She’s a senior leader. In a big game, she did what she had to do,” Spears said.

Trinity Episcopal boys 75,

Lee Academy (Ark.) 58

The Trinity Episcopal Saints got off to a slower start in their Class A State Tournament first-round game than head coach David King would have liked.

In fact, South State champion and third-ranked Trinity found itself trailing at the end of the first quarter to North No. 4 seed Lee Academy (Ark.). But in the second quarter, the Saints woke up and found their rhythm in time to take a lead halftime as they ended up with a 17-point win over the Cougars Wednesday afternoon.

The Saints got big performances from L.J. Trimble and Kevin Brown in their come-from-behind victory. Trimble led them in scoring with 17 points and he grabbed 11 rebounds while Brown finished with 15 points.

Kent King had his best offensive performance in several games as he ended up with 16 points and Givonni Dent had a double-double of his own with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Trinity (27-5) will take on the winner of Wednesday afternoon’s Immanuel Christian-University Christian School game today at 7:45 p.m. in a quarterfinal-round game.

The Cougars led the Saints 17-12 at the end of one, but that lead would not last long as the Saints buckled up on defense. Trinity wound up outscoring Lee 24-13 in the second quarter for a 36-30 halftime lead. The Saints kept the momentum going on both ends of the court in the third quarter as they held the Cougars to just nine points while putting up 20 points of their own for a 56-39 lead.

Lee Academy (Ark.) was led by Josh Brock with 17 points and Tyler McDaniel and Conner Gurrard with 14 points apiece.