By TAYLOR DENMAN

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Adams County Christian School girls basketball pounded the boards against Cathedral High School Friday night and advanced to the district 4-AAA finals with a 52-32 win.

ACCS will face Columbia Academy for the district title at 6:30 p.m today.

The Lady Rebels used their height advantage to pull in 37 rebounds, but it wasn’t the sharpest performance from the Adams County girls according to head coach Melanie Hall.

“Sometimes when you want it so badly it’s like you have two left feet,” Hall said. “The second half we took a deep breath, we played hard and played smart … to God be the glory.”

Brianna Henson led ACCS in scoring with 20 points in addition to seven rebounds. Anna McDaniel contributed 10 points for the Lady Rebels and Ashleigh Williams added nine points and seven rebounds.

Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold said his teams play on the boards was a huge difference in the game, coupled with an off night in shooting.

Cathedral’s leading scorers were Baylee Graning with 10 points and Marty Lewis with seven points.

“They killed us on the boards at both ends of the floor,” Arnold said. “The inability to make a shot and pull them out, and their size was a big difference.”

Cathedral was down just four points at halftime. Its offense tried to rotate the ball to get open looks from 3-point range and draw out Adams County defenders. The Lady Rebels stayed disciplined on defense and kept control of the game.

“All you can do is try what you know and hope it works,” Arnold said.

ACCS kept up a full-court press that controlled the pace of the game and forced some critical Cathedral turnovers.

“When we play up to our capabilities, we have a lot of depth,” Hall said.

 

Cathedral 58, Columbia 51

 

William Doss’ buzzer-beater 3-pointers at the end of the second and third quarter seemed like well timed shots at the time.

Those six points gave Cathedral the buffer it needed late in its 58-51 win to beat Columbia Saturday and advance to the district 4-AAA finals.

“Coach always tells us to hold the ball,” Doss said. “We want to shoot the ball so the other team doesn’t have time to shoot.”

Arnold let out a sigh of relief at the mention of Doss’ shots, especially on a night in which Cathedral was having trouble putting together strong offensive runs.

“(It was) huge,” Arnold said. “You have to fight through the bad times and keep plugging away.”

Cathedral was up five points with two minutes left when Columbia’s L.J. Coleman drained a 3-pointer, bringing the difference to one possession. Cathedral’s offense had been streaky for most of the night, but the Green Wave knocked down their free throws and moved the ball through Columbia’s press without turning the ball over en route to a win.

Doss’ shots were clutch and made up six of his nine points, but Conner Mire was Cathedral’s leading scorer with 14 points.

Point guard Jadarius Anderson battled a twisted ankle for most of the second half, but ran the offense to close the. Anderson, who finished with 12 points, said his ankle felt fine and he would be ready for today’s game.

“All our ball movement starts with (Anderson),” Doss said. “We get it to him and he gets the ball to everybody else.”

Two Natchez high schools will play for the district title on Saturday. Cathedral is 2-0 against Adams County Christian School this season, and the two will play the last of Saturday’s games after the girls varsity finals.

“Nobody thought the two of us would be playing in the finals,” Arnold said. “I’m proud of both teams. The two Natchez teams are in the finals and nobody saw that one coming, other than his team and my team.”