NATCHEZ &8212; If there&8217;s a point to be driven home here against one of the tougher programs in the MPSA, it&8217;s this.

Don&8217;t take a quarter off when you&8217;re up against Central Private. Or maybe even stretches of minutes.

Trinity Episcopal&8217;s Lady Saints had their struggles offensively for a good portion of the second and third quarters before making a comeback against the Lady Rebels. But the visitors held on at the end to take a 47-42 win over Trinity Thursday.

Trinity trailed by 16 in the fourth and cut the lead four in the final seconds before coming up short.

&8220;We&8217;re struggling right now playing four quarters,&8221; Trinity assistant Howard Jones said. &8220;We&8217;re doing a lot of good things, but we&8217;re not playing four quarters. We&8217;re in a four-game stretch of non-district games, and we&8217;re working on some things trying to get ready for the district games again. Our district is so tough top to bottom, and if you don&8217;t show up, you lose.&8221;

The Lady Saints mounted a comeback in the fourth after trailing for a good quarter and a half by 10 points or more. The worst deficit came at the 4:26 mark in the fourth when Jenny Morgan&8217;s bucket capped an 11-2 run to start the quarter for a 42-26 lead.

But Melissa Conlin got a bucket on a putback, and it triggered a run that featured another Conlin bucket underneath, two key jumpers from Eliza Jones and a 3-pointer from Mallory Archer that cut it to 46-42 with 19 seconds left.

Central Private then turned it over on its next possession but came up with a steal right after and drew the foul. Sonni Kirkwood hit one of two free throws with 3.8 seconds left to seal it.

Kirkwood finished with 21 points.

Central Private pulled away thanks to a three-quarters press that gave the Lady Saints problems. The Lady Rebels opened the second quarter on a 17-5 run and led 24-13 at half.

The press worked again at the start of the fourth quarter.

&8220;We didn&8217;t set up our press offense five or six possessions in a row,&8221; Howard Jones said. &8220;We got a little bit out of sync. We have our press offense, and we didn&8217;t run it. That&8217;s when they went on that run.&8221;

Archer led Trinity with 14 points.

Ferriday at Rayville tournament

RAYVILLE, La. &8212; Ferriday&8217;s Trojans were in the spot they wanted but couldn&8217;t come up with a field goal in the overtime before dropping a 44-43 decision to the Hornets in the semifinals of the Rayville tournament.

The Trojans downed Delhi 57-53 earlier in the day.

Ferriday (13-3) answered in the fourth quarter with an 11-8 edge to tie the game at 42 at the end of regulation. The defense worked well in the overtime by allowing the Hornets only two points, but the offense could only generate a free throw.

Against Delhi, Eric Crump poured in 24 points to help the Trojans get by the Bears and into the semifinal matchup.