NATCHEZ — After a tight first quarter between the Cathedral Lady Green Wave and Madison St. Joseph Lady Bruins, Cathedral head coach Randy Smith decided to put his foot on the pedal defensively and pressure St. Joe all the way down the court.

His plan worked, and the Lady Wave outscored the Lady Bruins 35-7 in the second and third quarter en route to a 54-23 win.

“We tried a 1-2-2 press after playing a little man at first,” Smith said. “When we went to the press, that messed them up. That made them work harder and fast, and they started rushing things.”

On the other end, Cathedral was converting on easy fast-break baskets after forcing turnover after turnover.

“We shot the ball well and just played together,” Smith said. “We are getting better and just want to keep the momentum going. Give all the credit to the girls.”

Not only were the Lady Wave racking up steals on defense, they were also blocking a good chunk of Lady Bruin shots.

“McKenzie Milligan is a great shot blocker, and two or three girls actually blocked shots tonight,” Smith said. “To do that without fouling is what you worry about. Some refs think if you block it, than you surely hit them, but tonight we had good clean blocks.”

McKenzie Watts led Cathedral in the scoring column with 11 points, Milligan added eight and Natalie Fletcher also posted eight for the Lady Wave.

With the win, Cathedral improved to 8-5, but Smith said his team still can improve upon a lot of things.

“We’ve still got a ways to go,” he said. “We are getting better. Now, we are learning what our roles are and where to play. We just needed to play more.”

With a more than 30 point lead heading into the final quarter of play, Smith was also able to get in some of the younger players on the team, which he was excited to do.

“That is good for the program,” he said. “The coaches that have been here, built that junior high up to the high school, and hopefully, that continues to carry on.”