VIDALIA — The Ferriday Lady Trojans were winless in their first five games of the season heading into their battle with Concordia Parish rival Vidalia Friday night.

But a strong defensive effort in the first half to go with the performances of ShaKeria Kelly and MeElle Reed allowed Ferriday to defeat the Lady Vikings 56-45 to finally pick up that elusive first win.

Kelly led all scorers with 20 points and Reed was right behind her with 19 points for Ferriday. The Lady Trojans held Vidalia to just 14 points in the first half en route to a 26-14 halftime lead. Even thought the Lady Vikings were able to put up 19 points in the third quarter, they were not able to put much of a dent into the Lady Trojans’ lead.

The Lady Trojans (1-5) play at Franklin Parish Tuesday night. The Lady Vikings (1-4) will be playing against an opponent to be determined on Monday in the Caldwell Tournament, which will be Dec. 15-17.

Vidalia boys 56, Ferriday 50

Michael Whitley and Isiah Thompson combined to score 31 points as the Vidalia Vikings held on for a six-point win over the Ferriday Trojans Friday night.

Whitley led Vidalia with 16 points while Thompson finished with 15 points. The Vikings took a 32-27 into halftime. Even though the home team scored just nine points in the third quarter, Ferriday wasn’t able to take advantage of the situation as the Trojans had 10 points in the quarter to trail by four heading into the fourth quarter.

Ferriday (3-3) was led by Brandon Scott with 16 points and Freddie Gray with nine points. The Trojans will be at Franklin Parish Tuesday night. Vidalia (5-2) will next play at the Caldwell Tournament Dec. 15-17. As to who the Vikings’ first opponent will be, head coach Robert Sanders said he will find out on Monday.

Natchez High boys 80,

Jefferson County 47

FAYETTE — Dearius Griffin led Natchez High with a game-high 23 points and Davante Green added 15 points as the Bulldogs took care of the Jefferson County Tigers by 33 points Friday night.

Natchez High went into halftime of this game leading Jefferson County 33-24. Then the Bulldogs made sure there would be no comeback by the Tigers in the second half. With Griffin and Green leading the charge, Natchez High outscored Jefferson County 18-11 in the third quarter to take a 51-35 lead. And if that wasn’t enough, the Bulldogs put on a clinic in the fourth quarter by scoring 29 points to just 12 for the Tigers.

Michael Watts and Jamal McDuffie had nine points apiece for the Bulldogs (5-5). Nicolas Brown and Jarmell Anderson scored 12 points each and Dalvin Johnson chipped in with eight points to lead the Tigers (1-4). Natchez High resumes MHSAA Region 6-6A play Friday night at Forest Hill while Jefferson County begins MHSAA Region 7-3A at Prentiss on Friday night.

Block boys 50, Tensas Parish 37

JONESVILLE, La. — Ken Colbert led Block with a game-high 19 points and William Cummings finished with 11 points as the Bears used a strong defensive effort in the second half to rally past the Tensas Parish Panthers Friday night.

Block was held to eight points and trailed Tensas Parish 12-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Bears were down by two points at halftime before changing the momentum in their favor. They outscored the Panthers 14-9 in the third quarter to go up by three at the end of the quarter then put the game away with a 16-6 advantage in the fourth quarter. Timothy Parks led Tensas Parish with 15 points

With the win, Block improved to 2-5 on the season. The Bears host Class C Plainveiw Tuesday night.

Franklin County splits with South Pike

MEADVILLE — Franklin County’s varsity basketball teams split a pair of games with South Pike Friday night. The Bulldogs fell to 2-5 after losing to the Eagles 62-39 while the Lady Bulldogs defeated the Lady Eagles. No score was available for the varsity girls’ game.

Franklin County plays host to McComb on Tuesday night.