NATCHEZ — After three quarters of slow play, Monterey High School was finally able to make it interesting in the fourth quarter Monday night.

Cathedral High School had limited the Lady Wolves to just nine points in three quarters and led Monterey 21-9. But the Lady Wolves finally hit a few baskets and cut the Lady Green Wave’s lead 24-21 with 1:57 left.

But Cathedral’s Akua Kumi took things over for the Lady Green Wave, driving to the basket for back-to-back layups to make things more comfortable for Cathedral. Not even five more Monterey points in the final 40 seconds made a dent, as Kumi drew a foul on a layup and hit the and-one to make it 31-26 Cathedral as time expired.

“She took it over and took it to the hoop,” Cathedral head coach Randy Smith said. “She made a big difference. She didn’t start (the game), but she finished.”

Smith called the win an early Christmas present, since it came about a month sooner than last year’s first win.

“We got a win before Christmas,” Smith said. “Last year, we didn’t get a win until Christmas.”

Monterey head coach Carry Shively said his players’ slow start was too much to overcome, even if they did make a nice run toward the end.

“We picked up the intensity (in the final quarter), but Cathedral played their butts off and just beat us,” Shively said.

Sally Stout led in scoring for the Lady Green Wave, tallying nine points, Kumi added eight points, all of which came in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Green Wave led 16-7 at intermission.

Monterey was led in scoring by Kristen Russell, who finished with seven points. Kaley Baker added six points, and Reagan Tiffee totaled five points.

Cathedral rose to 1-1 on the season, while Monterey fell to 4-1.

Monterey boys 56,

Cathedral 39

A strong third quarter by the Wolves turned a Monterey lead into a blowout win against Cathedral.

After going into the half up 24-18, Monterey exploded for 23 points in the third, while Cathedral struggled to keep pace, tallying just 13 points in that same period.

The Wolves went on to win 56-39, and Monterey head coach Eric Richard said he liked what he saw out of his team’s fast-break offense in the third quarter.

“We were able to get a couple of runouts and fast-break points, and that’s something we’ve tried to do so far this year,” Richard said.

Dillon Smith had a monster night for the Wolves, sinking five shots from beyond the arc to tally 15 points. Kade Passman added 13 points for Monterey, and Yankie Duncan had 10 points.

Cathedral’s Nicholas Arnold led his team with nine points, while Jadarius Anderson had eight points.

Green Wave head coach Peter Arnold gave Monterey all the credit for the win, but with football season only ending Friday, many of his players were not able to practice before this week.

“(Sunday) was literally the only practice we had,” Peter said.

Cathedral graduated all five starters from last season, and two others were lost to injury during football season in Ishmael Blackmon and Khalil Brice. In addition, Tyler Stockstill transferred to Adams County Christian School, Arnold said.

“We have talent, but we have no game experience or practice experience,” Arnold said. “The only thing we could do was try to use our athleticism in whatever way we could, but we haven’t had the opportunity to put any plays in. But (Monterey) played well, make no mistake.”

Monterey (4-1) will host Sicily Island today, while Cathedral (0-1) will host Enterprise today.