By REED DESALVO
The Natchez Democrat

“I thought we started out with a lot of enthusiasm, but somewhere along the way, when shots weren’t falling, things kind of went haywire,” Ferriday girls coach Lisa Abron said. “We had to try and regroup from there, and I think we stepped up a little bit more in the second quarter.”
The Lady Trojans biggest scoring output came in the second period as they scored 17 points.
“We got our confidence back just a little bit,” Abron said.
Part of the problem for Ferriday (6-11, 1-1) was attempting to neutralize rising prospect Micaela Wilson, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
“She’s probably the No. 1 prospect (for 2017),” Abron said. “Our game plan was to let have her way and try to contain the others. But there is really nothing that can stop her. We didn’t want her to have her way, but we didn’t want to worry about her as much as the other players.”
Lakeshanna Harris led the Lady Trojans with 14 points while Anasia Turner scored nine.
Ferriday will return to action Tuesday when it hosts Sterlington High School.
“We have to confidence back up,” Abron said. “A loss like this kind of does something to your confidence and your ego.”

Rayville (boys) 90, Ferriday 71

A 23-6 run to close the first half for Rayville turned a competitive into a blowout as the Warriors raced past Ferriday 90-71 in boys action.
Ferriday led for most of the first quarter and into the second, but Rayville seized momentum and never looked back.
“The whole first half we didn’t execute,” Ferriday boys coach Kirfred Watkins said. “We just had a complete failure in breakdowns on handling the ball and getting the ball down the court.”
Rayville utilized its strong depth to wear down Ferriday (11-6, 1-1) in the second half. The Warriors pushed their advantage to 68-37 midway through the third period to remove all doubt in the game’s outcome.
“We didn’t transition well at all,” Watkins said. “Definitely they had the depth, and fatigue did set in a little bit for us. But we should have been in it more than we were.”
Dantrieze Scott led Ferriday with 25 points, and Zaderrius Rosenthal finished with 17.
Ferriday will look to reverse its fortune Tuesday when it hosts Sterlington.
“We have to go back to the basics,” Watkins said. “The same thing that got us here will be the same things to get us past this.”