NATCHEZ — The thieves may have stolen Ginny Daggett’s money and phone, but Daggett stole the game for the Cathedral High School girls.

With 11 seconds left in regulation, Daggett sank a layup after Cathedral forced a turnover, giving the Lady Green Wave a 46-45 advantage over region opponent Bogue Chitto High School.

Cathedral then fended off a last-second attempt by the Lady Bobcats, when Cathedral’s Wesley Callaway pulled down a rebound as time expired, securing the Lady Green Wave’s first conference win this season.

Emotions were running high after play had to be stopped with approximately seven minutes left in the second quarter while both teams rushed to their respective locker rooms. According to Cathedral officials, several Bogue Chitto boys players stole four cell phones and slightly more than $100 in cash from the Cathedral girls. The items and money were eventually returned, and no charges were filed, though though police were called to the scene.

Daggett, who said she had approximately $70 stolen from her purse along with her phone, admitted that it took a while for her to calm down and focus on playing the game.

“I immediately started crying, because prom is (tonight) and that was money for everything I was going to do, and I was just mad,” Daggett said. “At Cathedral, you don’t usually have that type of stuff (happen), so I wasn’t expecting it, and I was really frustrated that someone would do that type of stuff.”

Lady Green Wave head coach Randy Smith said he told his girls to take their emotions onto the court after the incident happened.

“I told them to turn their anger toward the game and play like you’re going to get it back some way or another, and this is the way to get it back,” Smith said.

Cathedral trailed 20-14 at the half, but a strong third quarter by Wesley Callaway put the Lady Green Wave back in contention. Callaway scored nine of Cathedral’s 15 in the third quarter, and the Lady Green Wave limited Bogue Chitto to just 10 points, trailing 30-29 heading into the fourth.

After Callaway added two more points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Lady Green Wave’s offense went cold, not scoring again until there was 4:18 left in the game.

Bogue Chitto, meanwhile, strung together 10 unanswered points, building up a 40-31 lead before Cathedral’s Taylor Beesley hit a free throw at the 4:18 mark. From there, Bogue Chitto outscored Cathedral 5-2 in the next two minutes of play, taking a 45-34 lead with 2:21 left.

But the Lady Bobcats didn’t score a single point from then on, and Cathedral slowly chipped away at Bogue Chitto’s lead. Callaway had another two-pointer, then Beesley hit a field goal with 1:58 left. Kimble Devening sank a free throw, Beesley hit a foul shot and Daggett sank a layup with 1:02 left to play, making it 45-42 Bogue Chitto.

Daggett scored two more free throws in the final minute of play before her go-ahead layup at the 11-second mark. Daggett said it was a nice way to go out on senior night, even if the mood was dampened a bit because of the theft.

“I was nervous, but it was good, because it was my last night. It was fun,” Daggett said of hitting the game-winning shot.

Daggett led in scoring with 17 points, and Callaway added 13 points. Kennedy Gray scored 10 points for Cathedral before fouling out in the third quarter.

“It feels so good, because we haven’t won much,” Smith said of the win. “They were second place (in our region), so to beat a second-place team helps us a lot.”

Cathedral boys 66,

Bogue Chitto 32

Only five of Bogue Chitto’s seven players dressed out following the theft incident, and the Green Wave had no problem taking care of business on senior night.

D.J. Perry led Cathedral in scoring with 19 points, and Green Wave head coach Peter Arnold said there was no lack of motivation in the win.

“We played good defense, and they only had eight points at the half, so that was pretty much the story,” Arnold said. “D.J. had a solid inside game early. I think he scored 15 at the half.”

Trevor Farmer added six points, and Caleb Upton had five points and 10 assists.

Arnold said the theft incident was very bizarre for him, and he didn’t know whether his team would play a game or not until right before tipoff.

“I had never been involved in anything like that, and I was just trying to figure out what was going on,” Arnold said. “I just told them that it was senior night, and we were going to be ready (no matter what).”

Cathedral (14-12, 4-6) will host Bogue Chitto Tuesday in the first round of the Region 7-1A tournament.