NATCHEZ — After graduating the top six scorers from last year’s South State Tournament team, Cathedral Green Wave supporters knew the team was in for a rebuilding year.

And based on the first game of the season, they were right.

Cathedral began the game with four freshman starters and it showed, as impatience and bad shot selection led to a 43-31 loss to Monterey.

“I really thought we’d play better on offense,” Peter Arnold said. “A lot of it was nervousness. They were too anxious and impatient in the offense. We took shots too quickly and never let the offense work.”

The Green Wave played well in the first quarter and led 9-7 at the end of the first eight minutes.

However, the tide turned in the second quarter, as Cathedral could only manage three points.

Monterey didn’t do much better scoring-wise but did enough to take a 16-12 lead into the locker room.

Monterey continued to pull away from Cathedral in the third quarter, outscoring the Wave 11-7 to take an eight-point lead into the final period.

Monterey continued to put the hammer down in the final eight minutes, and opened up as much as a 13-point lead in the final quarter.

Much of the reason for Monterey’s dominance in the second half was the play of guard Ross Lipsey.

Lipsey had just two points at halftime but scored 12 points in the second half to help the Wolves pull away.

“Ross really settled down mentally and took control of the basketball in the second half,” Monterey coach Jeffrey Odom said. “He didn’t get a lot of playing time last year, but we graduated all five of our senior starters from last year, so he is going to grow up fast. He’s going to be a good guard for us.”

Lipsey led Monterey with 14 points while Josh Chapman scored 11 for the Wolves.

Cathedral was led by Collin Hammonds with 20 points. However, no other Green Wave player scored more than four.

“We’re going to get better each game,” Arnold said of his young team. “The talent is there. We’re going to work hard and continue to improve. There is enough talent on this team for us to have a good season.”

Monterey girls 45, Cathedral 29

The Monterey Lady Wolves took an early lead and s pulled away from Cathedral in the second half.

Monterey led 14-5 after one quarter but Cathedral closed to within 21-17 at halftime.

However, the Lady Wolves outscored the Lady Wave 24-12 in the second half to take the victory.

Monterey was led by Kendall Lipsey with 17 points. Brooke Baker and Rachel Pecanty both scored 11 for the Lady Wolves.

Ginny Daggett led Cathedral with 11 points while Epiphany Jackson scored eight points in the loss.