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ELLISVILLE — What was not much of a surprise last Friday night was that the Natchez High School Bulldogs lost to MHSAA Region 3-5A foe and the No. 1 team in all of Class 5A in the South Jones High School Braves on South Jones’s Senior Night

What was a big surprise was that the Natchez High Lady Bulldogs were stunned by the South Jones Lady Braves and the manner in which that happened — one of Natchez High’s leading scorers went down with an injury early and another of its top scorers fouled out in the second half.

South Jones girls 55, Natchez High 51

ELLISVILLE — The Natchez High Lady Bulldogs were looking to carry some momentum into this week’s Region 3-5A Tournament with a victory in their regular-season finale over South Jones High School — the very same school hosting the tournament.

Instead, it was the Lady Braves that took advantage of some untimely circumstances involving Natchez High during the game that allowed the home team to pull off a 55-51 upset win over the Lady Bulldogs on Senior Night at South Jones.

“It was a tough battle on the road at South Jones. Unfortunately, our center, Caleah Kennedy, went out with an injury, a slight ankle sprain. She went out in the first two minutes of the game and I didn’t put her back in,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Ronald Ellis said last Sunday morning. “It’s nothing serious. She’ll be able to play (at the Region 3-5A Tournament).”

Ellis described the game as a “dogfight” and the game went back and forth between the two teams with neither Natchez High nor South Jones able to pull away from the other. What also hurt the Lady Bulldogs was their inability to make 3-pointers as they went a combined 2-for-13. They also went 14-for-20 from the free-throw line.

Roniya Ellis had a double-double as she finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but she went 1-for-5 from behind the line.

“Unfortunately, Roniya fouled out with about four minutes left in the third quarter,” coach Ellis said. “We lost our top two scorers before the third quarter was over. But we fought. We took the positives out of this loss. We only lost by four points. It didn’t hurt us as far as the standings are concerned. We’re still in second place for the (Region 3-5A) tournament.”

Someone had to step up for the Lady Bulldogs to at least give them a chance to win the game in hostile territory. That someone was another senior in Hope Gutter, who ended up with a season-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds and six steals.

“That’s why Hope stepped up and did more than she usually does. She plays like a point guard. She usually looks to the other players. But she was attacking,” Ellis said.

Faith Gutter pulled down 10 rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs, but she went 0-for-5 from 3-point range and had just three points.

But the Lady Braves did just enough on their home court to hold off the Lady Bulldogs. Ellis added that his team’s road loss to North Pike High School back in mid-January hurt Natchez High’s chances of playing for the region championship and its No. 1 seed in the Region 3-5A Tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs fell to 18-8 overall and finished 7-3 in region play. By being the No. 2 seed, they earned a first-round bye in the Region 3-5A Tournament and took on the winner of Monday’s game between the No. 6 seed Provine High School Lady Rams and the No. 3 seed North Pike High School Lady Jaguars in a girls’ semifinal-round game at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

South Jones boys 63, Natchez High 33 (Friday night)

ELLISVILLE — Natchez High School junior guard Daylan Haywood needed just one point to reach the 1,000-career point milestone going into last Friday night’s regular-season finale at Region 3-5A opponent and Class 5A No. 1 South Jones High School.

Haywood finished with a team-high 16 points to give him 1,015 points with a season-plus to go in his high school career, but that was one of the very few highlights for Natchez High as the Bulldogs were blown out by South Jones High School 63-33 in the Braves’ Senior Night game.

Surprisingly, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the Braves. But it didn’t take long for South Jones to take over as they finished the first quarter on a 12-1 run to take a 12-7 lead into the second quarter.

“We started the game off (up) 6-0. Then the momentum suddenly shifted to South Jones as the received a few foul calls in their favor,” Bulldogs head coach David Haywood said last Sunday evening via text message. “The shot nearly 20 free throws in the first half. This was enough to get their fans behind them on Senior Night and lead to a comfortable win.”

The Braves essentially put the game away by dominating Natchez High on both ends of the court in the second quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 16-4 to take a 28-11 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs tried their best to get back in the game coming out of the break, but they couldn’t make enough stops defensively for that to take place. Both teams scored 13 points in the third quarter, giving South Jones a 41-24 advantage.

And while the game didn’t have any bearing on where either team would be seeded for this week’s Region 3-5A Tournament at South Jones, the Braves wanted to end the regular season in style and they did just that by outscoring Natchez High 22-9 in the fourth quarter for the emphatic 30-point win to go undefeated in region play during the regular season.

“The game didn’t mean much as far as the standings go, so we move on and look forward to Monday’s game against Provine,” Haywood said.

With the win, the Braves improved to 26-2 overall and finished 10-0 in region play to earn the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. They would take on the winner of the North Pike-Florence game in a boys’ semifinal-round game on Tuesday.

The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 14-11 overall and 4-6 in region play. They are the No. 3 seed and took on the No. 6 seed Provine High School Rams at 5:30 p.m. Monday in a boys’ first-round game at the Region 3-5A Tournament. The winner of that game advanced to take on No. 2 seed Brookhaven High School on Tuesday.