UTICA — The Piney Woods duo of Raven Thompson and Kiwanda Kelley led the way in a hopeful upset for No. 6 seed Lady Tornados Tuesday night.

Despite having a 26-23 lead at the end of three quarters, Piney Woods was unable to hold on as the No. 3 seed Cathedral High School outscored the Lady Tornadoes 16-10 in the fourth quarter to come away with a hard-fought 39-36 victory.

Cathedral’s comeback win was spurred by its defense as well as the play of Kennedy Gray and Sarah Beth Willard. Gray finished with 15 points and Willard added 10 points. Thompson ended up leading all scorers with 23 points while Kelley chipped in with 10 points for Piney Woods.

Taylor Beesley, Akua Kumi and Crystal Beckwith each contributed with four points for the Lady Green Wave.

Cathedral (11-15) will take on No. 2 seed Bogue Chitto, the third-ranked team in all of Class 1A, Thursday at 4 p.m. in one girls’ semifinal game. The Lady Green Wave also qualified for next week’s MHSAA Class 1A South State Playoffs.

St. Aloysius boys 64, Cathedral 53

UTICA — It wasn’t a 22-point second quarter by St. Aloysius that gave the Flashes a 33-26 halftime lead that frustrated Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold more than anything else. It was two plays at the end of the third quarter.

The Green Wave was down 40-37 and had the ball with a chance to go into the fourth quarter either down by just one point or tied at 40-all. Instead, No. 5 seed Cathedral was down more than that and No. 4 seed St. Aloysius went on to defeat the Green Wave by 11 points Tuesday night and end their season in the first round of the MHSAA Region 7-1A Tournament.

“We played decent in spurts. We always start slow and then we catch up,” Arnold said. “We had two ridiculous turnovers. One lead to a three-pointer and the on the other one, they made the shot, got fouled and made the free throw. They scored six points in the last 30 second of the third quarter.”

That allowed St. Aloysius to go into the fourth quarter with a 46-37 lead. From there, Cathedral kept fouling Elliott Bexley and Connor Smith and both of them made their free throws. Bexley and Smith shared the game’s top scoring honors with 25 points each.

Cathedral (7-19) was led by James Coley with 15 points. Alex Weadock and Jardarius Anderson finished with nine points each.

ACCS girls 65, Sylva-Bay Academy 28

BROOKHAVEN — Skylar Adams scored 14 points and Ashleigh Williams added 13 points as the Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels defeated the Sylva-Bay Academy Lady Saints Tuesday afternoon in the first round of the MAIS Class AA South State Tournament at Brookhaven Academy.

Defense and balanced scoring were the keys to ACCS’s blowout win. The Lady Rebels didn’t allow Sylva-Bay, the No. 4 seed from District 4-AA, to reach double digits in any quarter and not one player for the Lady Saints scored in double figures. On the other side, three players for the Lady Rebels scored in double figures and 10 players reached the scoring column.

ACCS, the No. 2 seed out of District 5-AA, jumped out to an 18-8 lead over Sylva-Bay after one quarter of play. And if it couldn’t get any worse for the Lady Saints, it did as the Lady Rebels outscored them 21-6 in the second quarter for a 39-14 halftime lead. The third quarter was more of the same as ACCS scored 18 points while holding Sylva-Bay to just seven points.

Tory Laird finished with 10 points while Jordan Petty contributed with eight points and Anna McDaniel chipped in with seven points for the Lady Rebels.

ACCS (record not available) will take on District 6-AA No. 1 seed Bowling Green School Thursday at 5:15 p.m. in a girls’ quarterfinal-round game.

CENLA Christian girls 46, WCCA 35

RAYVILLE, La. — A tie ball game after one quarter of play didn’t last very long as CENLA Christian Academy went on a roll in the second quarter as the Lady Lions defeated the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Lady Rams Tuesday night in the first round of the MAIS Class A South State Tournament at Riverfield Academy.

The first quarter ended in a 7-7 tie and then CENLA Christian, the No. 3 seed from District 7-A, dominated WCCA, the District 6 No. 2 seed, on both ends of the court in the second quarter. The Lady Lions ended up outscoring the Lady Rams 17-4 to go into halftime with a 24-11 lead.

WCCA cut the lead to eight points at 35-27 at the end of the third quarter, but CENLA Christian responded with an 11-8 advantage in the fourth quarter to end the season for the Lady Rams.

Brandi Norwood led WCCA with 16 points and Carmen Cavin had 10 points.

Jefferson County boys 57, Franklin County 29

PRENTISS – Jarmel Anderson led Jefferson County with 19 points and Ry’Ale Brown added 15 points as the third-seeded Tigers defeated the sixth-seeded Franklin County Bulldogs Tuesday night in the first round of the MHSAA Region 7-3A Tournament at Prentiss High School.

After the first quarter ended in an 11-11 tie, Jefferson County took control of the game from the second quarter on thanks in large part to its defense. The Tigers held Franklin County to just six points in the second quarter and a mere two points in the third quarter en route to a 37-19 lead.

The Bulldogs were led by Fred Nelson with 14 points and Antony Newborne chipped in with six points.

Jefferson County (16-11) goes up against No. 2 seed Hazlehurst Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in a boys’ semifinal-round game. The Tigers also clinched a berth in next week’s MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs.

Claiborne Academy boys 61, WCCA 42

RAYVILLE, La. — The Claiborne Academy Rebels, the No. 3 seed out of District 7-A, defeated Wilkinson County Christian Academy, the No. 2 seed from District 6-A, Tuesday night to end the Rams’ season in the first round of the MAIS Class A South State Tournament at Riverfield Academy.

After a back-and-forth first ended with Claiborne Academy holding on to a 34-33 lead, the Rebels took over in the second half to put the game away. They outscored WCCA 15-2 in the third quarter and 12-7 in the fourth quarter.

David Lewis led Claiborne Academy with a game-high 27 points. WCCA (8-14) was led by Dra’ Tolliver with 12 points and Jalen Washington with 10 points.