JACKSON — Natchez High School’s varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball teams needed to win their respective consolation games last Friday afternoon at the MHSAA Region 6-5A Tournament at Siwell Middle School to keep their seasons alive. Mission accomplished for both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs.

In the boys’ consolation game, the third-seeded Natchez High Bulldogs got past the fourth-seeded Jim Hill High School Tigers 54-43.

Natchez High (16-10) was only up by one point on Jim Hill at halftime, 21-20, after a hard-fought competitive first half by both teams. The Bulldogs turned to their defense to pull away in the third quarter as they outscored the Tigers 18-11 for a 39-31 lead.

The fourth quarter was similar to the first two quarters, but the Bulldogs put up 15 points while the Tigers scored 12 points.

Camron Bailey led Natchez High with a game-high 16 points and James Singleton had 15 points. Cameron Madison scored 12 points to lead Jim Hill, but he was the only player for the Tigers to reach double figures.

The Bulldogs advanced to the first round of the MHSAA Class 5A South State Playoffs as the Region 6 No. 3 seed and will play at Region 8 No. 2 seed Pascagoula High School today at 6 p.m. The Panthers lost to the Wayne County High School War Eagles 49-45 last Friday night in the Region 8-5A Tournament boys’ title game after blowing a 33-30 lead at the end of the third quarter.

In the girls’ consolation game, No. 3 seed Natchez High took care of the fourth-seeded Wingfield High School Lady Falcons 43-28. No other information on that game was available. The Region 6 No. 3 seed Lady Bulldogs took a three-and-a-half-plus hour trip to Gautier to take on the Region 8 No. 2 seed Gautier High School Lady Gators in a Class 5A South State Playoffs first-round game Monday night. Gautier lost to the Wayne County High School War Eagles 44-31 last Friday night in the Region 8-5A Tournament girls’ consolation game.

Monterey beats Oak Hill High, moves onto LHSAA Class B playoffs

MONTEREY — Tyler Boyd had a game-high 16 points and Ethan Clark added 15 points as the Monterey High School Wolves won 65-23 over the Oak Hill High School Rams to cap off their LHSAA District 6-B championship by running the table in district play.

Both Tyler Boyd and Clark made three 3-pointers for Monterey. Conner Boyd and Tyson Young each contributed with eight points each. Young connected on shot from 3-point range for the Wolves, who as a team went 8-for-16 from long distance.

The Wolves’ defense held Oak Hill to just 27 percent from the field (9-of-33) and forced 15 turnovers, 10 of which were steals. They also out-rebounded the Rams 25 to 16.

Monterey (25-5, 8-0) will next play in the bi-district round of the 2020 LHSAA Class B Playoffs against an opponent to be determined at a day and time to be determined.

Centreville Academy girls finish fourth at Class 2A South State Tournament

GREENVILLE — After getting off to a good start last week with a blowout win over Benton Academy at the 2020 MAIS Class 2A South State Tournament, the Centreville Academy Lady Tigers were looking to keep that momentum going.

Despite already locking up a berth in this week’s Class 2A State Tournament, the District 3 No. 2 seed Lady Tigers ran into a couple of tough opponents over the weekend and ended up finishing fourth at South State.

Last Friday afternoon in the first girls’ semifinal-round game, Centreville Academy lost a close game to the District 4 No. 1 seed Manchester Academy Lady Mavericks. No other information on that game was available.

That dropped the Lady Tigers to the girls’ consolation game, where they ran into an angry District 5 No. 1 seed Claiborne Academy Lady Rebels team and were dealt a 58-40 setback.

The Centreville Academy Lady Tigers will have a tough task on their hands when they take on the Class 2A North State champion and North No. 1 seed Lee (Ark.) Academy Lady Cougars Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in a first-round contest.