NATCHEZ — Natchez High School girls basketball coach Alphaka Moore ran a casual practice Thursday — a day before her Lady Bulldogs face Provine High School for the Region 6-5A district title.

Some players wore purple collared shirts with the Natchez High logo on it.

Moore said the practice was light to save the team’s legs — the team was running sprints Wednesday — and focus on the finer points of the team’s playbook.

“Just making sure everybody is ready for (today),” Moore said. “We’re making sure everyone is aware of what they were supposed to be doing.”

That’s not to say Moore wasn’t taking the practice seriously. The Lady Bulldogs’ coach shouted, “run for every miss” when her team went up to practice free throws.

“Even in your clothes,” Moore added.

Guard Kirdis Clark said, with a day’s rest, the team would have no excuses in today’s championship game.

Natchez split a home and away series with Provine in district play this season. Both region teams won their respective home games.

Today’s title game is between two teams, theoretically, familiar with each other.

“We think we know the scheme they’re planning on running but ours has changed a little,” Moore said. “Everything else will fall into place.”

Moore said her game plan is best executed independently of the team Natchez plays. She said playing too much to Provine’s scheme pulls her squad away from its strengths.

“You adjust to a team by continuing to do the same thing, but make sure you’re covering all areas of your opponent,” Moore said. “A mistake that a lot of teams make is that they play to the other team, and that gives (Provine) the advantage.”

With a win today, Natchez will clinch the No. 1 seed for South State and will be able to start the tournament at home.

Moore said not having to travel has been an advantage for her squad in past seasons. Clark said, No. 1 seed or not, Natchez still has to hit the court with the same mentality.

“Home or away we’ve got to play,” Clark said. “Either way we’ll play through it.”

“We’ll come together as a team,” teammate Skylar Morgan said. “We’ll do it together.”

The Lady Bulldogs play the third of four games today. Games start at 4 p.m. with the girls consolation game.

The Natchez boys team will play the consolation game against Brookhaven High School, set to tip before the girls; championship game. First-year coach David Haywood said a third place finish in region tournament would be a big boost for his young team this season. Haywood said the difference between the win and loss column for his squad is just a few single-digit losses on the Bulldogs’ schedule. That was also the case on Tuesday, when his squad lost by just three points to top-seeded Provine.

As for the Natchez girls team, their focus is on their game, set for 7 p.m.

“I know they’re going to come out and play us hard,” Morgan said. “They want to win as bad as we do.”