COLUMBIA — The Hillcrest Christian School Cougars advanced to the boys’ championship game of the 2018 MAIS Class AAA Staate Tournament with a 71-52 win over the Adams County Christian School Rebels Friday night in a semifinal-round game at Columbia Academy.

No other information on the game was available.

Before South No. 1 seed Hillcrest takes on North No. 1 seed Heritage Academy for the state championship,  South No. 3 seed ACCS (17-7) faces off with South No. 2 seed Riverfield Academy in the third-place game today at 6 p.m.

The winner clinches a berth in next week’s Overall Tournament while the loser will not have another game to play this season.

Marshall Academy 46, Centreville Academy 35 (Class AA girls)

BROOKHAVEN — Experience proved to be beneficial for Marshall Academy as the Lady Patriots defeated the Centreville Academy Lady Tigers 46-35 Friday afternoon in the girls’ semifinals of the 2018 MAIS Class AA State Tournament at Brookhaven Academy.

Senior point guard/shooting guard Alexis McGreger led North No. 1 seed Marshall Academy with a game-high 15 points and junior center Julia Nicholson poured in 14 points. Savannah Hailey and Karlyn Dalton led Centreville with 11 points each.

“The girls played hard. I just wish I did a better job myself to help them win,” Lady Tigers head coach Russell Cruise said.

Another key factor in the outcome of the game was that South No. 2 seed Centreville went ice cold from the field in the second and third quarters after getting off to a surprisingly good start and leading the Lady Patriots 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“We played extremely hard. The girls did what we wanted them to do defensively. Just had a little bit of trouble on the offensive end,” Cruise said. “What hurt us, they held Savannah to 11 points. They box-and-oned the eighth-grader today. We had the shots. They just wouldn’t go in for us in the second and third quarters.”

Marshall Academy outscored Centreville 11-4 in the second quarter to take a slim 19-18 lead into halftime. The Lady Patriots put the game away with a 14-5 advantage in the third quarter for a 33-23 lead.

“To be in the situation we’re in with the youth we have, it speaks volumes to the future of this program. We’re starting and eighth-grader and two freshmen,” Cruise said. “It’s disappointing that we don’t have a chance to play for the state championship, but we still have an opportunity to play in the Overall Tournament.”

Centreville Academy (25-8) will take on South No. 1 seed Lamar Christian School at 1 p.m. today in the third-place game with the winner going to Overall next week and the loser having its season come to an end. The Lady Lions were upset by South No. 3 seed Brookhaven Academy 42-33 in the other girls’ semifinal game.