COUSHATTA, La. — The Wilkinson County Christian Academy Lady Rams had to do the impossible in the first round of the MPSA District 6-A Tournament Monday afternoon to keep their season alive — defeat Claiborne Academy.

The Lady Rebels entered the district tournament as the No. 1 team in all of Class A and as the West No. 1 seed. The Lady Rams, on the other hand, ended up as the East No. 4 seed and they knew they had to play as close to a flawless game as possible to pull off the upset.

But Claiborne Academy set the tone for the game with by shutting out WCCA in the first quarter en route to a 66-29 win to advance to the semifinals and clinched a berth in the Class A South State Tournament.

“Their girls are ranked No. 1 in the state and it showed in the first quarter,” Lady Rams head coach Ray Olive said. “They surprised us with they way the way they played early on.”

Once the Lady Rams settled down, they made the game more interested than a lot of people at the Riverdale Academy gym — the site of the district tournament — expected.

“We played with them for a while and cut their lead to nine at one point in the third quarter,” Olive said. “Then they pulled away from us. They’re a very good basketball team and they’re well coached.”

Carli Newell led Claiborne Academy (19-4) with 17 points while Chase Simpson scored 16 points and Morgan Simpson added 12 points. WCCA (8-17) was led by Allie Fontenot with 14 points.

Claiborne Academy boys 49,

WCCA 42

COUSHATTA, La. — It took until the fourth quarter for WCCA’s offense to finally wake up, but the Rebels made some clutch free throws late in the game to hold on for a seven-point win at the District 6-A Tournament.

It was a tough loss for the East No. 3 seed Rams, as their season, just like the Lady Rams earlier in the afternoon on Monday, came to an end in the first round of the tournament.

Claiborne Academy, the West No. 2 seed, pulled away from WCCA with a 13-6 advantage in the third quarter for a 34-22 lead. But the Rebels allowed the Rams to get back in the game and at one point were up by just five points.

“We finally got pressure defense on them in the fourth and our offense got going,” Rams head coach Ray Olive said. “We got some steals and lay-ups. But they hit their free throws in the last two minutes. It was a four-hour drive over here, but I’m not using that as an excuse. It took us a little while to get adjusted to their style of play.”

The Rebels scored 13 of the 15 points in the fourth quarter at the free-throw line to hold off the Rams’ rally.

Luke Whitaker and Todd Gonda scored 12 points each for WCCA (12-14). Estey led Claiborne Academy with a game-high 22 points.

Ferriday girls 46, Sterlington 23 (Saturday)

MONROE, La. — The Ferriday Lady Trojans moved to within one win of a showdown with Lake Providence for the District 2-2A championship by defeating the Sterlington Lady Panthers in impressive fashion last Saturday afternoon.

Led by Jasmine Upchurch and Ja’Lessia Davis, Ferriday (27-5, 6-1) dominated the action on both ends of the court in the first half. The Lady Trojans led 17-8 at the end of the first quarter and then kept the Lady Panthers scoreless in the second quarter en route to a 29-8 halftime lead. Upchurch led Ferriday with 12 points and Davis scored 11 points.

With a big lead during the second half of the game, Ferriday head coach Lisa Abron unloaded her bench to give her reserves some playing time with the Class 2A playoffs approaching.

Sterlington was no match for Ferriday as the Lady Panthers had just three players end up in the scoring column. Lakelia Pounds led the home team with a game-high 15 points.

Ferriday has one district game remaining – today at Farmerville. Lake Providence is 5-1 in district play with two games left – today at Jonesboro-Hodge and Friday at Farmerville.