BROOKHAVEN — The Centreville Academy Lady Tigers lived to fight another day, winning a nail biter to advance into the MAIS South AA tournament.

With a 46-44 victory against Central Hinds Monday, the (16-12) Lady Tigers played their way into the bracket and will face No. 1 seed Simpson Academy at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Having a group of mostly sophomore players, Centreville head coach Ricky Gray believes the extra game played Monday night will work in his team’s favor.

“It’s no doubt in my mind it’ll help us,” Gray said. “It’s so funny, you should have seen how nervous our girls were in the dressing room. But now that they see they are capable of playing with these other girls, playing tonight is really going to help us Wednesday.”

Centreville looked like it was going to cruise toward a one-sided victory when the team went on a 14-4 run in the third quarter to take an eight-point lead into the fourth, but Central Hinds came roaring back to take a 41-39 lead with 1:28 left to play in the fourth quarter.

“They sped it up on us in that fourth quarter,” Gray said. “We were turning the ball over and making uncharacteristic plays late, but I have to give it to (my team), they battled back.”

Gray said Centreville then slowed the game down and Hannah Guilbeau was able to convert the only Lady Tiger field goal of the fourth quarter to put Centreville up. After converting free throws and playing solid defense, the Lady Tigers secured the victory and remained alive in the postseason.

“Defensively, we did a great job tonight,” Gray said. “It was a loud gym with a lot of excitement, and we were excited to get the win.”

Sydnie Lyons led the Lady Tigers with 14 points, while Marty Longmire added 10, Katelyn Chandler scored nine and Katelyn Bell provided eight points.