NATCHEZ — The entire Natchez High School student body gathered in front of the school Thursday to show the Lady Bulldogs basketball program support as the team headed to Jackson for the MHSAA Class 5A state championship.

Natchez High plays South Jones High School at 6:30 p.m. today at the Mississippi Coliseum.

Hundreds of students, including the school’s band, cheerleading squad and majorettes, lined up along the front entrance, many with blue and gold balloons in their hands anxiously awaiting for the bus carrying the championship-contenders to pass by.

NHS Principal Fred Butcher said it was an exciting day for the school and the community to come together and support the team.

And as the student body has stood behind the Lady Bulldogs, Butcher said, in retrospect, the program has held the student body together with its positive representation of NHS.

“The team has been an instrumental part of the school year,” Butcher said. “When you have a winning team, the entire program feeds off of that. This particular team has played with so much resilience, and that’s the kind of attitude I’m hoping the student body catches on to.”

Butcher said he hopes the unity and pride the Lady Bulldogs have brought to Natchez is the start of something great for the academic side of the high school.

“When I first came to Natchez High as athletic director, I said if you want to pull a school together, you start by getting one or two winning programs,” Butcher said. “It pulls the entire community together. Athletics tends to break down more walls than religion sometimes.”

When the bus pulled up in front of the student body, cheers erupted for the athletes as head coach Alphaka Moore stopped the bus to thank all of the students and faculty for their support throughout the season.

When she asked how many people were coming to the championship, every hand rose with pride.

Natchez High junior Vannesia Scott said she was more than happy to say she would be attending the game to cheer on her friends and classmates.

“It makes me feel good to be apart of Natchez High,” Scott said. “They’re trying so hard. I’m excited and supportive of everything they’re doing.”

Scott is one of several hundred expected to attend the game today, more than the large number of blue and gold shirts which filled the Coliseum Monday in the Lady Bulldogs’ first round, 64-60 triple overtime win against the reigning champions, Canton High School.

Moore said she was astounded at the crowd size Monday, and it played a role in the Lady Bulldogs’ ability to fight for three extra quarters,

“We knew we had a lot of people coming, but to see that type of turnout was amazing, we had more fans than anybody else,” Moore said. “The girls might have been frustrated (in over time), but they had people behind them cheering. There was never silence in that Coliseum.”

The championship marks the end of the trilogy between the two teams, which met twice earlier this season.

South Jones won the first battle 44-38 in the Hattiesburg Coca-Cola Tournament in December while Natchez beat South Jones 34-30 for the south state title March 1.

Moore said she hopes for major fan support as the Lady Bulldogs fight for their first state championship since 1994.