FAYETTE — Kendrick Washington led four Hinds Agricultural High School players in double figures with 23 points as the Bulldogs took advantage of several Jefferson County miscues in the second half to defeat the Tigers 81-71 Thursday night at the Jefferson County High School Holiday Tournament.

“We didn’t take care of the basketball in the second half like we did in the first half,” Tigers head coach Marcus Walton said. “Everything goes through their guards from their defense to their decision-making.”

Jefferson County (10-9) took a two-point lead at halftime and it would have been more than that had the Tigers done better from the free-throw line in the first half. Unfortunately, the third quarter belonged to the Bulldogs.

Hinds AHS outscored Jefferson County 26-12 to take a 59-47 lead into the fourth quarter and the Tigers were unable to rally for the win.

“They’re an up-tempo team. We like to play up-tempo, too, but we wanted to slow it down a bit tonight,” Walton said. “We had our opportunities. We probably played one of the best 2A teams in the state tonight.”

Jacorey Wright and Keeslee Stewart scored 17 points each and Eric Burks had 14 points for Hinds AHS. Percy Turner scored a game-high 28 points and Kadon Day finished with 21 points to lead Jefferson County.

Cathedral girls 66, St. Aloysius 58

WESSON — Despite being in serious foul trouble for much of the second half, Kristian Dobard scored 34 points as the Lady Green Wave held on to defeat the rival Lady Flashes Thursday afternoon at the Wesson Invitational Tournament.

Cathedral (5-9) won its third straight game and will take on the winner of the Dexter-Wesson game in a semifinal game today at 7 p.m.

“We kept playing hard. We refused to go down. St. Al is a rivalry,” Lady Green Wave head coach Kathy Graning said. “Every time we play them it’s tough. This is the first time we’ve beat St. Al in recent memory.”

Cathedral somehow won the game despite being called for a whopping 35 fouls and having four starters foul out. Dobard played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls, yet was able to avoid fouling out herself. Which was good for the Lady Green Wave and bad for the Lady Flashes. St. Aloysius was called for 17 fouls.

“They didn’t have anybody height-wise to defend her,” said Graning, who added that the key to the game was not only Dobard’s presence inside, but also the defense forcing turnovers that led to easy baskets.

Mae Durkin added nine points for Cathedral. Elizabeth Mazzanti led St. Aloysius with 18 points, 12 at the free-throw line, and Tori Hines had 13 points.

Wilkinson County boys 66, Jackson (La.) 46

FAYETTE — Before the Chiefs knew what hit them, they were already trailing the Wildcats by 25 points at halftime Thursday afternoon. By the time their offense woke up in the second half, it was too late as lost by 20 points in day two of the Jefferson County High School Holiday Tournament.

Wilkinson County got a game-high 24 points from Kenny Harden and nine points each from Corey Anthony, Megal Covington and Quantarrius Lee as the Wildcats bounced back from a 15-point loss to Hinds AHS on Wednesday. K. Dunn led Jackson (La.) with 23 points.

The Wildcats dominated the first half on both ends of the court and there wasn’t anything the Chiefs could do about it. Wilkinson County, the ‘visitors’ in this game, led 20-8 after one quarter of play and 37-12 at halftime.

Jefferson County girls 45, Hinds AHS 23

FAYETTE — The Lady Tigers opened up a close game with a 15-6 advantage in the second quarter as they defeated the Lady Bulldogs by 22 points Thursday night at the Jefferson County High School Holiday Tournament.

The big second quarter by the Lady Tigers gave them a 23-12 halftime lead. Their defense played a big role in the game, allowing the Lady Bulldogs to score no more than six points in any of the four quarters.

Erin Wells led Jefferson County with a game-high 18 points and Charlita White had 12 points. L. Washington led Hinds AHS with 13 points.

Jefferson County will take on Wilkinson County Saturday at 6 p.m. with first place and a 3-0 record in tournament play on the line.

Wilkinson County girls 60, Jackson (La.) 18

FAYETTE — The Lady Wildcats didn’t have to worry about holding on to a lead in this game like they did against Hinds AHS Wednesday afternoon as they rolled to a 42-point win over the Lady Chiefs Thursday afternoon at the Jefferson County High School Holiday Tournament.

Wilkinson County, which improved to 7-6 on the season, took a 16-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Even with their reserves on the court in the fourth quarter, the Lady Wildcats still held the Lady Chiefs to just two points.

Toni Anthony led the Lady Wildcats with 28 points and Tyeshia Lee added 17 points. T. Whitfield was the only player to come close to scoring in double figures for the Lady Chiefs as she finished with eight points.

E.S.A. boys 51, Natchez High 49

LAFAYETTE, La. — Natchez High’s stay at the Sunkist Shootout didn’t last very long as the Bulldogs were eliminated with a tough two-point loss to E.S.A. Thursday afternoon.

After falling behind 11-3 at the end of the first quarter, Natchez High (8-8) outscored E.S.A. 16-13 in the second quarter to trail by just five points at halftime. But E.S.A. responded with a 19-point third quarter to increase its lead to 16 points.

The Bulldogs’ hopes of staying alive in the tournament almost happened as they scored 22 points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, they couldn’t quite make enough stops defensively to win the game.

Kendall Logan led Natchez High with 20 points and Justin Blackwell had 17 points. L. Fox led E.S.A. (17-8) with 19 points and A. Brown chipped in with 15 points.

Cathedral boys 60, St. Aloysius 47

WESSON — Juan Gray scored 18 points and Jamerson Jones had 10 points as the Green Wave defeated the Flashes Thursday night in the first round of the Wesson Invitational Tournament.

Cathedral (12-2) led by over 20 points in the fourth quarter before head coach Peter Arnold took his starters out. St. Aloysius scored 22 points in the final period to make the final score more respectable. Alex Lanier led the Flashes with a game-high 23 points.

The Green Wave will take on the winner of the Dexter-Wesson game in the semifinals today at 8:30 p.m.

Brookhaven Academy boys 65, ACCS 19

BROOKHAVEN — The Rebels never had a chance against the host Cougars Thursday night at the Brookhaven Academy Tournament.

ACCS (1-11) trailed Brookhaven Academy by double digits during the first quarter and trailed 23-4 by the end of the quarter. The Rebels saw the Cougars continued to add to their lead and weren’t able to get anything going offensively themselves.

Dustin Carroll led ACCS with six points and Lee Swinney chipped in with four points.