NATCHEZ — With district play beginning to heat up and the fight for playoff position on, one coach is glad his squad appears to be playing its best basketball of the season.

K.G. Watkins, coach of the Ferriday Trojans, said his team is coming together at the right time to begin the push for the playoffs.

The Trojans have won eight consecutive games and now stand at 15-6 on the season.

“We’re starting to play with a mission,” Watkins said. “We’ve got the basketball edge now.”

Watkins contributes the success mostly to the fact that the basketball players who also played for the Ferriday football team have gotten in a basketball rhythm.

“We’ve got good athletes and are a senior-laden team,” Watkins said. “We knew (getting the football players back) would make us a better team.”

Ferriday played in a couple of holiday tournaments over Christmas break and won every game in both tournaments.

“It was very important to have success during the holiday,” Watkins said. “It gives us a lot of confidence going into district.”

Ferriday will host Sterlington on Tuesday before traveling to Lake Providence on Friday.

Cathedral Green Wave

Another team that is looking to start peaking as the playoffs draw near is the Cathedral Green Wave.

The Green Wave is coming off a third place finish in the Wesson Holiday Tournament and a 20-point win over Monterey Thursday night.

Cathedral coach Peter Arnold said it was important for his team to play those games over the break to keep them sharp.

“We wanted to play quite a bit over the holiday and we accomplished that,” Arnold said. “We get a quality workout even if we don’t play well.”

Arnold had to bank on that because his team only had two practices over the break.

“We’re looking forward to getting back in our normal schedule,” Arnold said. “The lack of practice time made things a little off-kilter. We’re looking forward to getting back in a routine.”

Arnold hopes that the routine will help his team be able to continue their success in their final 10 games, nine of which are in the district.

“We want to tighten our screws and hit our peak as we go into the postseason,” Arnold said. “We’ve got to get back to work and pick up our energy and level of play. We want to be hitting on all cylinders when the district tournament comes around.”

Cathedral will welcome district foe Sacred Heart on Tuesday before playing at Salem on Friday night.

Other games Tuesday night include Trinity at ACCS, Huntington at Tensas, Franklin Academy at WCCA, Wilkinson County at Natchez, Franklin County at North Pike, Jefferson County at Amite County, St. Mary’s at Block, Vidalia at Marksville (girls only) and Monterey at Sicily Island.

Trinity will play at WCCA on Thursday and Friday’s games include Prairie View at ACCS, Tallulah at Huntington, Trinity at River Oaks, Terry at Natchez, North Pike at Jefferson County, Tylertown at Franklin County, Castor at Monterey, Chamberlain-Hunt at WCCA (boys only), Wilkinson County at Amite County, Tioga at Vidalia (boys only), Buckeye at Vidalia (girls only) and Block at Northwood-Lena.