NATCHEZ — For the last several years, when the Monterey Lady Wolves and the Cathedral Lady Green Wave take on each other on the hardwood, Monterey has been the only one to go into the match-up with a winning record.

That was definitely not the case Tuesday night as Cathedral not only entered the game with the better record of the two teams, but it’s best record in recent memory this late in the season.

Led by Natalie Fletcher and Caroline Kaiser, the Lady Green Wave shut out the Lady Wolves in the first quarter and then held off a furious rally afterwards to hold on for a 40-30 win to improve to its overall record to 12-3.

Cathedral dominated Monterey on both ends of the court in the first quarter, which ended with the Lady Green Wave leading 14-0.

“It was a good ball game. We didn’t score very well early. They jumped out on us. We fought back really well the rest of the game,” Lady Wolves head coach Cary Shivley said. “We dug ourselves in a big hole. We just picked up our intensity a little bit and worked hard. That’s what I thought.”

Fletcher and Kaiser led the Lady Green Wave in scoring with 10 points each while Elizabeth Smith chipped in with five points. Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold had a different take on how the game went.

“We got off to a really good start and then got be an ugly game after that. First game back after the holidays. Hopefully that’s all it was. The good thing about it was we won,” Arnold said. “It was hard to figure out.

If anyone thought that Monterey would get blown out after what happened in the first quarter, then the Lady Wolves would have other ideas. They outscored Cathedral 11-9 in the second quarter and 8-4 in the third quarter to make it a 27-19 game.

“It was hard to figure out. To get out to a good start and then play lethargic, I couldn’t figure it out,” Arnold said. “I can’t say that anybody played particularly well. They played well in spots. There a lot of bad moments as well.”

Monterey then cut the lead to just five points in the fourth quarter, but when the Lady Wolves started fouling late in the quarter, the Lady Green Wave made their free throws and ended the comeback attempt.

“Both teams hustled extremely hard. I’m proud of my kids for extremely hard,” Shivley said.

Bailey Book, Sydney Woodruff and Emily Woodrum led the Lady Wolves with eight points apiece.

Monterey (12-7) plays host to Hicks at 6 p.m. Friday. Cathedral returns to MAIS District 4-AAA play Thursday at 6 p.m. when it visits Adams County Christian School.

“We’ve got a big game Thursday night. We’ve got to play a whole lot better than we did tonight,” Arnold said.

Vidalia 56, Bolton 51

VIDALIA — With senior co-captain Bre’Honor Harris in early foul trouble, someone had to step up for the Vidalia Lady Vikings if they were going to defeat the Bolton Lady Bears Tuesday night.

Senior co-captain Bri’anna Tolliver and junior captain Jalyn Smith did just that and they got some unexpected help from freshman Angel Heckard as Vidalia rallied late to beat Bolton 56-51 in an LHSAA District 3-3A game.

It was indeed a back-and-forth battle between two teams eager to get out of the gutter in district play. The Lady Bears got the early advantage and led the Lady Vikings 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Vidalia head coach Christen West said her team came out flat, but still stuck with the game plan of forcing turnovers with the press defense.

“They stepped up major in the press. We forced 22 turnovers. Once they got the momentum going, they played with good energy,” West said.

The Lady Vikings flipped the script on Bolton and outscored the Lady Bears 15-9 in the second quarter to go into halftime down just one point, 24-23. The third quarter was a tight one as Vidalia put up 13 points while Bolton had 12 points to make it a tie ball game at 36-36.

“Bre’Honor got in foul trouble and had to sit most of the third quarter. Bri’anna and Jalyn stepped up. Bri’anna had six steals and Jalyn had five steals. Angel had four rebounds and three steals. She broke out of her shell,” West said.

But once again, Vidalia found itself trailing late in the ball game and needed something good to happen to pull out the win. Two things led to that happening.

“We were down four or five with two minutes left. We got a few steals. They knocked down their free throws. Free throws were what won the game for us,” West said. “They stayed very poised. The never lost their composure. It was a team win.”

West added that it felt good for Vidalia to finally get its first district win of the season, that the players needed it for their confidence, and that it was a home win as well.

Harris led the Lady Vikings with 18 points while Smith finished with 14 points and Tolliver added 11 points.

Vidalia (7-9, 1-2) plays host to district foe Marksville at 6 p.m. Friday.

ACCS 49, Brookhaven Academy 24

BROOKHAVEN — Bailey Boyd led Adams County Christian School with a game-high 19 points as the Lady Rebels battled back from a slow start to defeat the Brookhaven Academy Lady Cougars 49-24 Tuesday night in MAIS District 4-AAA action.

ACCS did its part on defense, holding Brookhaven Academy to just five points in the first quarter. However, the Lady Rebels had their own shooting woes and was only up by two points at the end of the quarter.

Then the Lady Rebels took control of the game over the final three quarters. They outscored the Lady Cougars 16-9 in the second quarter for a 23-14 halftime lead and 11-3 in the third quarter for a commanding 34-17 advantage. ACCS finished off Brookhaven Academy with a 15-7 edge in the fourth quarter.

Boyd was the only player for either team to score in double figures. Brianna Henson and Anna McDaniel scored seven points each for the Lady Rebels. That was still more than the leading scorer for the Lady Cougars – Sissy Byrd, who had six points.

ACCS (11-4, 3-1) plays host to Cathedral at 6 p.m. Thursday in a key District 4-AAA game for both teams.

Jefferson County 47, Amite County 34

LIBERTY — After a shaky second quarter, Jefferson County had its way with Amite County in the second half as the Lady Tigers defeated the Lady Trojans 47-34 Tuesday night.

Jefferson County led Amite County 10-6 after one quarter of play, but the Lady Trojans responded in a big way with a surprising 14-5 advantage in the second quarter to into halftime with a 20-15 lead.

However, any thoughts of an upset went away after halftime. The Lady Tigers ramped up their defensive intensity and pressure and that led to easy transition baskets and lay-ups on the other end. And there was very little the Lady Trojans could do to slow down the onslaught.

Led by Antrell Gales and Diamond Smith, the Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Trojans 13-4 in the third quarter for a 28-24 lead and then put the game away with a 19-10 advantage in the fourth quarter. Gales and Smith combined to score as many points as Amite County had as a team. Gales finished with a game-high 18 points and Smith wasn’t far behind with 16 points.

Jefferson County (10-3) begins MHSAA Region 7-3A play on Friday at 6 p.m. at Wesson High School.

Trinity Episcopal 63, Franklin Academy 28

NATCHEZ — D’Asia Mitchell scored 18 points and Dionna Jackson added 14 points to lead four Trinity Episcopal players in double figures as the Lady Saints rolled to a 63-28 win over the Franklin Academy Lady Cougars in an MAIS District 5-AA game Tuesday night.

Tali Beard poured in 12 points and Sloane Young chipped in with 10 points for the Lady Saints, who started out on fire from the field and put up 22 points in the first quarter. They had their way with Franklin Academy in all but the third quarter, when both teams scored just six points.

After that low-scoring quarter, Trinity Episcopal scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to put the game completely out of reach. In addition to the third quarter, the Lady Cougars were held to three points in the second quarter and six points in the fourth quarter.

Trinity Episcopal (11-4, 1-0) next plays at 6 p.m. Friday at district rival Amite School Center.