NATCHEZ — The South Jones High School Lady Braves have been to the state tournament for the past two years, but they have yet to add a state championship to their resume.

South Jones will have their chance at the title when they play Natchez High School for the third time this season in the MHSAA Class 5A state championship Friday.

South Jones (28-4) head coach Sherri Cooley came to the basketball program in 2008, and she said it took a lot of work to get to where they are now.

“When I first got there, I was a different coach (then what the players were used to), they weren’t accustomed to practicing and playing year around,” Cooley said. “They had to buy in to the weight program and the conditioning. I lost a lot of players because they thought it was too much.

“I had a couple of losing seasons, I won seven games each of my first two seasons.”

But gradually, Cooley developed South Jones into a winning program filled with players who all want the same thing — a state championship.

Cooley led South Jones to the 5A state championship in 2012 and 2013 in which it was ousted by Oxford High School and Canton High School, respectively.

Cooley said the Lady Braves are known for their defense, and its aggressive play is what got them to the big house for the third straight year.

“Traditionally, I always like to play man-to-man and we do a lot of full-court press, but now our big girls are not quite as fast, so I try to slow the ball game down and play a lot of zone defense,” Cooley said. “We have done a pretty decent job (on defense) in the last game against New Hope.”

Despite the Lady Braves’ solid defense, Cooley said the offense is also traditional, yet effective.

“I’m an old school, inside and out type of coach,” Cooley said. “I like to get it in to my post players first. Shania Posey is our leading scorer, and she’s strong in the post. That’s our first option. I also have some guards like (Kalen) Phillips who is one of my best three-point shooters, but Jakeyla Miller has stepped up for us. She’s always moving and crashing the board.”

Cooley said her players know their roles on the floor, and they accept that all of them cannot be the leading scorer.

She said they all buy into her system with the determination that this year, they will not come out in second place again.

Cooley said after the first two games against Natchez High School this season, which the teams split 1-1, she knows one thing about their third meeting in the state championship — it’s going to be a good one.

“We’re both evenly matched and (Natchez head coach Alphaka) Moore does an excellent job with (her players) and she also instills confidence in her girls,” Cooley said. “It’s hard sometimes to play a team three times because they know each other so well. It’s going to be a really competitive ball game.”

In the first meeting, South Jones handed Natchez its first of just two losses this season in the Hattiesburg Coca-Cola Tournament in December 44-38.

When they met again in the South State championship March 1, Natchez pulled out an upset with a 34-30 win.

Now the two teams must meet again, with South Jones having the advantage of experience as it heads to the state title for the third straight year, and Natchez must keep its youth bottled up and play with confidence.

Natchez and South Jones will play in the state championship at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.