NATCHEZ — The Adams County Christian School girls took a close game into the fourth quarter against district rival Columbia Academy Friday night.

But the Lady Cougars outscored the Lady Rebels 14-8 in the final period, and ACCS fell 61-54 in a game where that had a rare foul-out by ACCS’s Brandis White.

White tallied her fifth foul with 50 seconds left in regulation, and the Lady Rebels scored just two points in the final six minutes of play.

“I thought both teams battled well,” ACCS head coach Melanie Hall said. “I thought we did a lot of really good things at times, (and) at times not.

“There were a couple of little breakdowns here and there, but overall, I thought both teams battled hard and fought until the very end.”

ACCS trailed 47-46 to open the fourth quarter, but a quick three-pointer by Tory Laird put the Lady Rebels ahead by two. Brandis White added a layup with 7:32 left to play, and ACCS looked like it was ready to take control of the game for good.

But ACCS was outscored 14-3 the rest of the way, and White’s foul-out left the Lady Rebels without their lead scorer in the final minute of play.

“It always hurts when you’re without your floor general,” Hall said. “Anytime your floor general goes out, that’s huge.

“However, you never know what’s going to happen day to day and who’s going to have to step up and who’s going to have to be ready. When one of us goes out, somebody’s going to have to step up confidently, knowing we’re just going to have to take care of our business.”

ACCS led 14-7 after the first quarter, but the Lady Cougars fought back to make it 29-28 ACCS at the half. Columbia Academy’s Anna Wilks and Sissy Price combined for 17 of the Lady Cougars’ 21 points in that period.

In the third quarter, ACCS and Columbia Academy went back and fourth, with both teams exchanging two sets of three-pointers in the final two minutes. With 1:53 left and the score tied 40-40, White hit a shot from beyond the arc. Wilks answered with a three-point basket of her own at the 1:25 mark, then scored again from outside the perimeter with 50 second left in the third.

Laird sank a three-pointer with 40 seconds left to tie it 46-46, but Wilks scored the final point of the period on a free throw with 22 seconds left.

Wilks led in scoring with 21 points, and Price tallied 14 points. Jacklyn Wilkes had 12 points for Columbia Academy.

White had 17 points, and Abby Givens added 12 for ACCS. Laird finished with nine points.

ACCS (20-3, 0-2) will travel to Columbia Academy Tuesday, and Hall said her message to the team was to not get down about the slow start in district play.

“Don’t let this one defeat keep you from taking the next victory,” Hall said.

Columbia Academy 52,

ACCS boys 40

Ryan Strong had a strong showing for ACCS with 13 points, but the Rebels dropped their district matchup to Columbia Academy.

Brooks Robinson tallied 20 points for the Cougars, and Kalin McKenzie had 12 points. Alex Price finished with 10 points.

ACCS fell to 1-15 on the season, 0-2 in district play.