VIDALIA — Earlier this week, Ferriday girls head coach Lisa Abron challenged her lone senior LaKeshanna Harris to step up.

Harris passed the challenge Friday night, as she hit the game winning shot with three seconds left to play to lift the Lady Trojans past Vidalia, 45-43.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Harris said. “I didn’t want to lose or let my team down. Coach told me I had to step up, and I showed her that I could.”

Harris finished with 10 points in the winning effort.

Ferriday had one of the worst first quarters imaginable, being held to just two points, both of which came from the free throw line.

The Lady Trojans had to continually watch as every shot missed.

“We’ve been struggling on offense and I don’t know what is going on,” Abron said. “But we aren’t going to give up here.”

The Lady Trojans woke up in the second quarter and doubled the output from the Lady Vikings, 12-6.

By the end of the third quarter, Ferriday was up by seven, but the Lady Vikings were far from done.

Vidalia would claw back to within two points multiple times in the final quarter, but it wasn’t until the end where the Lady Vikings seriously threatened.

Vidalia took a one point lead with 24 seconds left in the game, but Harris was able to hit a free throw to tie the game.

Vidalia then went on to miss two free throws with 12 seconds left, giving Ferriday a chance for the winning shot.

Harris took the ball down the court, drove and pulled up from the elbow, connecting on the game-winner.

“We needed that win to get us back on track,” Abron said. “We’ve been going through a lot this week with the loss against Tensas, and we needed a win to boost our confidence and spirit. I’m just happy we got the chance to pull it out.”

Most of Ferriday’s production came in the post with Zhane Green scoring a game-high 18 points and fellow post player Shaniqua Hillard adding seven.

“We expect Shaniqua and Zhane to pretty much do that and they did tonight,” Abron said. “And with time, everything will come together.”

Briana Tolliver was the main threat for Vidalia, scoring 13 points in the contest.

Harris said the win wasn’t only important for the team, but also for her town.

“It is very important to win this game because people talk,” she said. “We don’t want to hear them saying they beat us. We had to win this game.”

Ferriday (boys) 65, Vidalia 59

VIDALIA — Ferriday big men Dare Rosenthal and Dantrieze Scott controlled the paint and led the Trojans in scoring in a 65-59 winning effort.

“I wasn’t worried about our big guys,” Ferriday head coach K.G. Watkins said. “But I knew there was some rust there.”

Scott led the Trojans with 14 points and Rosenthal added 13.

At 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-8, not many teams have the ability to stand up to Ferriday’s big men, but Vidalia head coach Robert Sanders said he believes his team did everything they could Friday night.

“This is probably the biggest team we’ll see until playoff time,” Sanders said. “It says a lot if we can remember and learn from this one.”

Vikings’ post player Curtis McNulty had a solid night with a game-high 18 points.

Fouls were plentiful, with both teams finding themselves in the double-bonus fairly early.

Sanders said it was the difference in a win and a loss for the Vikings.

“They hit their foul shots and we didn’t,” he said. “Malik (Jefferson) had to be taken out of the game with three fouls in the first quarter, so we could never find a rhythm.”

With questions at guard play for the Trojans, Watkins said he was pleased with what he saw in the game.

“We’re working on our guard situation and figuring out how to control the ball,” he said. “This is only our second game. It is only going to get better.”

The teams traded baskets for the majority of the game, but spurt runs from Ferriday eventually proved to be too much for the Vikings.