WOODVILLE — D’Asia Mitchell led all scorers with 24 points and Sloane Young had 14 points as the Trinity Episcopal Lady Saints defeated the Wilkinson County High School Lady Wildcats 58-46 Friday night.

Even though Wilkinson County had the home-court advantage, Trinity Episcopal took it to the Lady Wildcats in the first quarter and had a 23-13 lead by the end of the quarter. However, the Lady Saints were not able to build on that lead over the next two quarters.

That’s because the Lady Wildcats turned up the defensive pressure, which led to either turnovers or contested shots. They outscored the Lady Saints 11-9 in the second quarter and 10-7 in the third quarter to cut Trinity’s lead to just five points at 39-34.

However, Trinity responded in a big way. Led by Mitchell, Young, and Dionna Jackson, the Lady Saints scored 19 points in the fourth quarter while holding Wilkinson County to just 12 points.

Jackson finished with 11 points for the Lady Saints. Gadrieka Cotton led the Lady Wildcats with 14 points and Miesha Norman added 10 points.

Trinity Episcopal (8-2) plays host to Silliman Institute today at 3 p.m. Wilkinson County (no record available) plays at 6 p.m. next Monday at West Feliciana (La.)

Columbus 68, Natchez High 65 (OT)

COLUMBUS — The Natchez High Lady Bulldogs had a grand total of two losses in the previous two seasons combined, each culminating in an MHSAA Class 5A state championship.

Ferriday was able to score 23 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as Sicily Island kept pace at 18.

Watkins said a problem the Trojans had was getting away from fundamental team basketball.

“(Dunbar) is a good basketball player, but we can’t let one man dictate what we do,” he said. “We can’t sit back and get frustrated over one particular player. We still have to play team ball, and we got away from that concept.”

Watkins said he isn’t pushing the panic button yet, especially after recalling what happened for the Trojans not long ago.

“When we made our championship run in ’08, we didn’t actually start winning until after Christmas,” Watkins said. “So it is OK right now. Yes, it would be great to have a spurt right now, but I’d rather take it after Christmas when it counts. Hopefully, this is still a learning phase and we’ll see if we can get better day by day and make it work.”

Leading scorers for Ferriday in the game were Dantrieze Scott with 11 points and Dare Rosenthal with 10.