NATCHEZ — The McDonough Investments (Cathedral) AYA third- and fourth-grade girls basketball team had its heart broken last season with a one-point loss in the AYA championship game.

But this season, the young Green Wave team got to feel the jubilation of redemption with a little help from a last-second basket by Hailey Ellis to beat Glynn Adams Logging (ACCS) 13-11 to win the title Tuesday night at Trinity Episcopal.

The game was tied at 11, and Ellis was able to put the game-winning shot through the net as the buzzer sounded.

“It was a really exciting game,” Cathedral coach William McDonough said. “I thought the roof was going to fly off the gym. When Hailey Ellis made the shot as time expired, I felt like I was in a dream. She literally made the shot as time expired and made an unbelievable put back.”

Ellis led the Cathedral team with six points on the night. Haleigh Nunnery scored four points to help Ellis push Cathedral to the win.

“Haleigh Nunnery and Hailey Ellis especially controlled the game,” McDonough said.

Cathedral also got valuable contributions from Carie Serio (two points), Anna Katherine McDonough (one point) and Miah Wheeler, McDonough said.

Drue Boyd led ACCS with six points on two three-pointers. Taylor Ashley chipped in three points for ACCS and Alyssa McIntosh scored two points.

McDonough said, like the championship game itself, Cathedral’s season had its ups and downs.

“We lost three or four games in the last minute of the game, and I’m going to blame that on coaching,” he said. “But the girls came back every week with a good attitude, and we tried new plays. This was a really smart group of girls.

“It’s such a cliché, but I kept telling them that we could do it, and we’re going to win this game.”

McDonough said that Cathedral beat teams in the playoffs to get to the championship that had already beaten them twice in the regular season.

McDonough said his daughter, Anna Katherine, will be in fourth grade next season, and he hopes that he can retain as much of this year’s team as possible for next season.

McDonough said he wanted to thank everybody involved with AYA this season as well.

“We appreciate the referees and other teams for competing at such a high level,” he said.

Silas Simmons (Trinity Episcopal) 21, Holder Mobile Homes (Trinity) 16

Desanto Rollins netted a game-high 13 points, and Sam Mosby hit three fourth-quarter shots to push the Silas Simmons (Trinity) third- and fourth-grade boys’ AYA team to a championship win Tuesday night.

Silas Simmons topped another team representing Trinity Episcopal, Holder Mobile Homes, 21-16 in the title game.

Silas Simmons head coach Derek Pyron said the difference in the contest was Mosby’s ability to hit the clutch shots late in the game, and the game presented a unique challenge because both teams represented the same school.

“It was obviously a tight game, and both teams played really well,” Pyron said. “Most of these kids go to school together, and it’s hard to play against your friends.”

Pyron said this is the second championship for Silas Simmons in less than a year. The Silas Simmons football team won the AYA championship in the fall.

“They called the boys on our AYA football team and were obviously excited about winning both of those,” Pyron said.

Silas Simmons’ Trey Gill was the other scorer for the team with two points.

Pyron said Silas Simmons finished the season undefeated, and now the boys will move back to the gridiron.

“From here we go back to football,” Pyron said. “I don’t know (about basketball). We will have to reshuffled the deck.”

Cooper Williams and Matt Petty led Holder Mobile Homes with six points each in the contest, and Blake Perrin and Glaston Magee each scored two points. Head coach Gerald Williams said he was proud of his team this season.

“We had a really great year,” he said. “Our expectations at first were we might be able to compete. I didn’t think we’d wind up being the second-place team in the tournament. The kids hustled and worked hard. We just couldn’t make it work (Tuesday) night.”

Williams said he was impressed with how much his team improved throughout the season.

“We had a couple of kids that couldn’t even dribble the ball, and they got to handling the ball well,” he said. “We had two third-graders that never played ball, and before the season was over, they were doing real well.”

Williams said he did have to remind his young players that they would have many more chances to win championships.

“We had one that was kind of upset and I said, ‘Look, you’re just a third grader. You have got lots of ball to play yet.’”