It really was a one-and-done for Wilkinson County&8217;s girls at the Jackson Public Schools tournament last week.

But it could have been worse &8212; it could have been none-and-never-gone.

At least the Lady Wildcats got a game in over the holidays to stay fresh, although it was a 60-32 loss to a solid 5A Forest Hill. They had a game scheduled for the first round of the tournament against Marshall, but Wilkinson advanced in a forfeit.

The game may keep them fresh for this week since school out until Wednesday. The Lady Wildcats open Region 7-3A play Tuesday along with several others in the Miss-Lou.

&8220;We didn&8217;t execute our offense and didn&8217;t play well on defense,&8221; Wilkinson head coach Edwin White said of the loss. &8220;But we didn&8217;t practice before we left. Any time you get a chance to play over the holidays, it&8217;s always going to be a plus. You really need that game experience to keep you going. Lately we&8217;ve been playing reall well.&8221;

Region play resumes Tuesday for them when they travel to an improved South Pike. Yet after practice this morning following Friday&8217;s workout, everyone&8217;s hoping they can get back to where they were before the break &8212; a 2-1 mark in region with a solid win over West Marion.

Now it&8217;s just a matter of getting back and settled. They need the inside play to take over, and they need big contributions again from Kim Griffin &8212; who scored only two points against Forest Hill.

&8220;Kim is not playing consistently as I think she could right now,&8221; White said of the senior who scored 22 against West Marion. &8220;Inside is our strong point. We have a size advantage against teams we&8217;re going against, and we need to utilize that. At the beginning, people would key on Kim and play box and one. Now Toni (Anthony) has stepped up, they&8217;ve gotten away from that. If Kim can get going and playing again, we&8217;ll be able to rock and roll.&8221;

The guard play has been solidified, White said, since he moved Erica Lewis over to point and Ebony Anthony over to the wing. Lewis is more of a bigger player to defend &8212; Ebony Anthony had trouble against bigger defenders &8212; and took to the point guard position quickly.

And the turnover total has begun to diminish from 30 a game to about 15.

&8220;Erica Lewis is playing well now,&8221; White said. &8220;She&8217;s really assumed the leadership role on this team. That set up has been working better. She does a good job of distributing the ball, she has very good court vision and she gets the ball to the right people at the right time.

&8220;Ebony has speed like Latasha Williams has. We can utilize her in fast-break situations now. She&8217;s gotten to the point where she can make layups. She&8217;s doing well for her second year of playing basketball.&8221;

The week will be the first of three or four pivotal ones for the Lady Wildcats, who should be in the mix for the top two of three spots for the region tournament along with Franklin County, South Pike and North Pike.

Franklin County has yet to lose a game and plays Natchez High Tuesday.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD &8212; Another result of the loss of Matthew Hall for Cathedral has been the entire lineup going smaller. Andy Lucas is the only big man on the floor, and the Wave went with four guards over the weekend at the Wesson tournament.

But this time, the guards produced and minimized their turnovers. It allowed scorer Matt Goss to get hot in the win over Enterprise and the offense to do what it does best &8212; slow it down in the halfcourt and get the good shot.

&8220;(Matt) Marchbanks and (Juan) Gray played their best games of the year,&8221; CHS head coach Peter Arnold said of the Thursday win. &8220;It was better than what we&8217;ve been averaging turnover-wise. With the smaller lineup now, I&8217;d like to see us get the turnovers down and keep them in single digits. When you have four perimeter guys and one inside guy, there&8217;s no excuse not to limit your turnovers.&8221;

The point guard duties are on Marchbanks and Keylann Hinson with Gray and Goss out on a wing scoring. Gray had 11 in the win over Enterprise and 16 in Friday&8217;s loss to Dexter.

&8220;He was a lot more aggressive (Thursday) looking to create something off the dribble,&8221; Arnold said. &8220;I look for him to blossom as the year goes on. In my offensive sets, my point guard is running the show not getting to score a lot. You don&8217;t get much glory, but a team can&8217;t win without a good point guard.&8221;

CLEANING UP &8212; Friday wasn&8217;t the time for a key player to suffer an injury and the starting point guard to be out of town. But the Trinity girls didn&8217;t miss too much against Claiborne without Courtney Timm in the post and point guard Molly Butts.

For that game, turned out, everyone picked it up a notch. Jessica Marchbanks accounted for only five points but came up in other areas &8212; defense underneath and rebounding &8212; to keep the Lady Saints playing well heading into District 4-AA action this week.

&8220;She&8217;s been the glue,&8221; Trinity head coach Melanie Hall said. &8220;She&8217;s always doing the little things &8212; crashing the boards, making the big stop, setting the screen that gets the girl open. I can&8217;t say enough about her.&8221;

The Lady Saints hope to have Timm back Tuesday when they visit Centreville, and Butts should return. It&8217;s the continuation of a district race that is different from last year or any other in recent seasons with Brookhaven Academy not being its customary 10 or 15 points better than everyone.

Trinity hosts BA Friday.

&8220;I feel like everybody in our district is a good team,&8221; Hall said. &8220;It should be a fun district. The thing I&8217;m pleased about with my group is their togetherness and they&8217;re having fun. They&8217;re communicating. They&8217;re encouraging their teammates. I believe (district) is going to be who&8217;s doing well on any given night.&8221;