NATCHEZ — Franklin County High School did what it was supposed to do. Natchez High School didn’t.

And that was the reason the hometown Lady Bulldogs were on the wrong side of a 50-31 blowout against the visiting Lady Bulldogs, NHS girls head coach Sue Johnson said.

Johnson said her players were suffering from fatigue after a long road trip to Forest Hill last night, which contributed to their lackluster play Saturday evening.

“I think it was about one of the worst games we’ve ever played,” Johnson said. “We were out of sync, and we had jet lag on the brain. I think we’re just tired, and we’re going to try and get a little rest and get ready for Vidalia (Monday).”

But Johnson said that was still no excuse for the game to not even be competitive.

“We’re just in a rut right now,” Johnson said. “It really wasn’t a matter of them giving us trouble, it was a matter of us not doing what we were supposed to do.

“We weren’t meeting the ball, we weren’t playing good defense, we weren’t blocking out. We didn’t take our time and run our offense. I’m not taking anything away from Franklin County, because they did what they were supposed to do, but if we would have executed like we normally do, that would have been a good game.”

Franklin County opened the game with a 10-8 lead after the first quarter, but the visiting Lady Bulldogs quickly took control in the second thanks to strong man-to-man defense and a strong offensive showing by Briana Grayson and Toni Robinson.

After NHS’s Kiana Jones hit a free throw with 6:27 left in the second, Grayson hit a layup with 5:16 to go. Franklin County’s defense stymied NHS, and Robinson hit a layup with 4:10 to extend Franklin County’s lead to 14-9.

With 3:13 left in the half, Grayson then sank Franklin County’s first three-pointer of the game. She also added a free throw with 1:39 left in the second, giving Franklin County an 18-9 lead.

NHS finally scored again with 1:25 left before the half when Ashley Minor hit a field goal. Rashanae Rice sank a foul shot with 1:02 left, cutting Franklin County’s lead to 18-12. But the visiting Lady Bulldogs scored the last shot before the half, when Robinson hit a two-point basket with 43 seconds left, making it 20-12 Franklin County at intermission.

“I thought they did a great job today, when we held them to 12 at the half,” Franklin County girls head coach Charles Moore said of his players’ defensive effort.

“We’ve been a full-court team, and we haven’t done well (with that), so we spent the last three weeks concentrating on half-court (play) and trying to build our way back up.”

Moore also complimented his team’s defensive rebounding, as the visiting Lady Bulldogs were able to consistently pull the ball in after the hometown Lady Bulldogs missed a shot.

“It was the same thing,” Moore said. “Working on that man-to-man defense makes us get into good position to block people out.”

Franklin County extended its lead in the third, as NHS managed just seven points in that period. The hometown Lady Bulldogs rested their starters for most of that period, and Johnson said it was simply because they needed some rest.

“They told me they were tired, so I gave them some rest and let some people that didn’t get much playing time get out there,” Johnson said. “They couldn’t have done anything worse — 12 points for a whole half — and they didn’t do any worse than the first group did.”

After failing to score more than 10 points in any one quarter for the first three quarters, NHS managed 12 points in the fourth. Franklin County tallied 13 points in the final period.

Grayson led in scoring with 17 points for Franklin County, and Robinson finished with 11 points. Kierra Collins had 10 points for Franklin County.

Keyana Miller was NHS’s leading scorer with 12 points on the night.

Franklin County rose to 7-3 on the season, and NHS fell to 9-4.

Natchez High boys 51,

Franklin County 46

Dearrius Griffin led NHS with 18 points as the hometown Bulldogs edged the visiting Bulldogs Saturday night.

Derrian Johnson tallied 15 points for NHS, which trailed Franklin County 30-28 at the half. But Franklin County scored just one point in the third quarter, and NHS pulled ahead 39-31 at the end of the third.

Antonio Green had 10 points for the visiting Bulldogs.

NHS (6-6) will host Vidalia Monday night.