NATCHEZ &045; In crunch time, the Trinity Lady Saints often look to Mallory Archer.

Against Copiah Academy Tuesday night, she came through with flying colors, scoring 16 points and picking up a couple nice assists in the second half to help ward off a Lady Colonels’ comeback attempt for a 47-39 win in the opening round of Class AA South State tournament.

The Lady Saints had allowed Copiah to climb back in the game and tie it at 35-35 with 4:45 to go in the game, despite the fact that the Lady Colonels had trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half

The Lady Saints will play the winner of the game between Adams Christian and Silliman in the semifinal round. Those teams play at 6:30 tonight.

But as valuable as Archer was to Trinity, it was the Lady Saints’ team defense &045; specifically a move from man-to-man to zone defense in the fourth quarter &045; that made the difference in the game.

The Lady Saints employed a zone defense late in the game that all but shut down the Lady Colonel offensive attack.

&uot;At the end of the game we had so many people getting beat to the hoop,&uot; Archer said. &uot;(The coaches) put us in a zone so they have to shoot outside. When they stopped getting layups, their offense just kind of shut down.&uot;

The move to a zone helped prevent Copiah from getting easy looks going to the basket, and the Lady Colonels had just two points in the final 4:11. Trinity took advantage of Copiah’s offensive troubles and ended the game with a 10-2 run, getting five points from Archer during that stretch.

&uot;This team has been so unified. I read to them about geese and how they fly in a ‘V’ shape to help each other out,&uot; Trinity coach Melanie Hall said. &uot;It’s that unity, that belief in each other that’s our strength.&uot;

Without the layups Copiah had been getting for most of the second half, it was more difficult for the Lady Colonels to get good outside looks, which Copiah had been feasting on for most of the second half.

&uot;Against our man (defense), they were screening to get wide-open looks,&uot; Trinity assistant Howard Jones said. &uot;We may have been a little bit tired.&uot;

The Lady Saints have rarely played zone this season, preferring to stay in man-to-man to best utilize the team’s strengths.

&uot;It’s just a matter of the personnel we have,&uot; Hall said. &uot;A few years ago, we were primarily a zone team, but these girls play such good man defense that we mostly play that.&uot;

Trinity’s strong defensive performance down the stretch came after the Lady Saints had allowed Copiah to get back in the game with a strong offensive push. Trinity led 24-13 at half and stretched its lead out to 32-15 late in the third.

Then things started getting rocky for the Lady Saints. Copiah’s 20-3 run from late in the third quarter until midway through the fourth tied the game at 35 and had the Lady Saints back on their heels.

&uot;I think we just got lazy,&uot; Archer said. &uot;We thought we had it won, but they battled us toward the end of the game.&uot;

The Lady Colonels opened the fourth quarter with 12 unanswered points &045; all on 3-pointers &045; to tie the game at 35. Two of those 3-pointers came off of set play, Copiah head coach Mitch Mitchell said.

&uot;It’s a set play. I guess we should have run it more often, since it was the only open shot we could get,&uot; Mitchell said. &uot;They just played good man-to-man defense.&uot;