NATCHEZ — The Ferriday High School Lady Trojans played their third game in four days and on Friday night it showed.

They could not hold on to a lead they earned in the second quarter and lost to the Natchez High School Lady Bulldogs 59-53.

Natchez High senior center/power forward Aja Carter led all scorers with a game-high 23 points and junior guard Candi Gray finished with 17 points for the Lady Bulldogs.

“The girls played hard. They hustled. They fought back,” Natchez High head coach ShaRhonda Gipson said. “We had some mental breakdowns, but we regrouped. Missed a lot of easy shots, lay-ups and free throws.”

The Lady Bulldogs had a 16-14 lead after one quarter of play before the Lady Trojans answered with a 15-11 advantage in the second quarter for a 29-27 halftime lead. Both teams scored 14 points in the third quarter before Natchez High outscored Ferriday 18-10 in the fourth quarter for the come-from-behind win.

“Missed a lot of easy shots – lay-ups and free throws. But we did come out with a win,” Gipson said.

The free-throw line is where fatigue really set in for Ferriday. The Lady Trojans were just 11-for-26 from the charity stripe.

“I knew it was going to be an even match-up because we’re similar in size and guard play,” Ferriday head coach Lisa Abron said. “We missed a lot of free throws. If we had made seven (more) of them, we would have won the game. I knew it was going to come down to something small like that.”

One person who excelled not only from the field but at the free-throw line was Carter, whose inside presence was too much for the Lady Trojans.

“She had an awesome all-around performance tonight,” Gipson said. “She’s been down a little in scoring. But she picked it up tonight. She only missed two free throws. She was six for eight.”

Another key factor in the outcome was the loss of starting point guard Diamond Johnson in the second half. Johnson scored 12 points before having to miss a critical part of the game.

“She fell and hurt her head and I decided not to play her in the fourth quarter. She had a knot in hear head,” Abron said. “She said she was fine, but she didn’t look that way to me. Having the bench come in and make up for that was asking a lot.”

Shekayla Miller led Ferriday with 17 points and Zaniya Curry added 10 points. Kelsey McNeal chipped in with 10 points for Natchez High. While Gipson said even in a win that the Lady Bulldogs have some things to correct, Abron said that she was proud of the effort the Lady Trojans put forth.

“We’ll watch film from this game and learn from it,” Gipson said.

“They gave a valiant effort tonight,” Abron said.

Ferriday (6-3) returns to the Delhi High School Tournament today when the Lady Trojans have a rematch with Carroll High School at 3 p.m. Natchez High (6-3) returns to action next Tuesday when it hosts McComb High School at 6 p.m.

Natchez High boys 64, Ferriday 48

NATCHEZ — Charles Credit had a game-high 22 points and Tyreeq Washington added 14 points to lead the Natchez High School Bulldogs to a 64-48 win over the Ferriday High School Trojans Friday night.

The first quarter proved to be huge for Natchez High on both ends of the court. The Bulldogs came out of the gate strong and ended up scoring 25 points. Their defense stymied Ferriday throughout the quarter and the Trojans managed only nine points.

The rest of the game was quite competitive and evenly-matched, but the early 16-point deficit was too much for the Trojans to overcome. Montrieze Sandidge led Ferriday with 17 points.

Ferriday (no record given) is scheduled to host Franklin Parish High School next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Natchez High (5-1) hosts McComb High School next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.