NATCHEZ — Adams County Christian School head coach Melanie Hall said her team got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter Tuesday night.

But despite being “sluggish,” the ACCS girls were able to go ahead 24-12 en route to a 65-24 performance against Wilkinson County Christian Academy.

Twelve points was the most the Lady Rebels gave up in any one quarter, as they limited the Lady Rams to seven, one and four points in the remaining three periods. Hall said her team didn’t perform as expected defensively in the first half.

“I thought we came out very flat and sluggish,” Hall said. “At times, we looked like we were about to flip that switch, and get into our rhythm, but for the first half I didn’t feel like we played into our rhythm.”

Jessica Reynolds had an excellent night for the Lady Rebels, finishing the game with 16 points. Twelve of those 16 came in the first quarter, as she and Nikki Worthey accounted for 16 of the Lady Rebels’ 24 points in the first period.

Worthey started things off with two free throws and a field goal to give ACCS an early 4-0 lead, then WCCA’s Brandi Norwood scored a two-pointer to cut the lead. But the game wouldn’t remain close for much longer, as Reynolds took charge and led the Lady Rebels. Worthey added two more foul shots in the first half and finished the game with eight points.

ACCS’s defense began to stifle the Lady Rams in the second quarter, and WCCA’s Lauren Dejean scored four points, the most any one WCCA player had in that period. The Lady Rebels, meanwhile, subbed in the backups and tallied 11 points to take a 35-19 lead in the half.

A lone free throw by WCCA’s Carmen Cavin was the only point the Lady Rams scored in the third quarter, as ACCS continued to add to its lead and finished the third quarter by being ahead 55-20.

Only three players for WCCA played in the fourth quarter, and Lady Rams head coach Brandi McDaniel said that was due to a technicality.

“That’s all I had,” McDaniel said. “I had four varsity players, and then I can play four junior varsity players a night, but they can only play six quarters a week, so they each only could play two quarters of this game. When three varsity players fouled out, that’s all I had.”

Tory Laird finished the game with 12 points for ACCS, 10 of which came in the second half. No one for WCCA scored in double digits.

McDaniel said ACCS’s defense was simply too much to overcome after her girls kept things in striking distance after the first quarter.

“They’re just very quick, and they have good hands,” McDaniel said. “They pressured our ball handlers, and we seemed rattled a little bit. They rebounded the ball well, and we just couldn’t get any rebounds from them.”

ACCS rose to 12-0 on the season, while WCCA fell to 2-4 on the year.

WCCA boys 62, ACCS 39

Dre Tolliver tallied 18 points and Ethan Carruth had 17 points as the Rams beat ACCS.

Tramel McKinsey added 12 points for the Rams. ACCS’s Brandon Walker had 18 points, while Dylan Galbreath scored 14 points.

WCCA (4-1) will host Silliman Thursday. ACCS (1-6) will play at Amite School Center Thursday.