NATCHEZ &045; Forget the full-court man-to-man press.

Well, take that back. Don’t forget about that, but the Natchez High Lady Bulldogs are introducing another press going into next week’s Division 6-5A tournament.

A zone press in the full-court followed by a man-to-man defense in the halfcourt.

That worked big time in Friday’s 49-38 win over Wilkinson County to give the Lady Bulldogs another win over a quality opponent heading into the tournament.

&uot;We’re just trying to focus and concentrate and get back thinking in terms of what we need to do with the district tournament coming up next week,&uot; NHS assistant Yvonne Chatman said. &uot;We feel like we have a very good chance. Coach (Steve) McClatchy and I have been instilling that in these girls the last few days. We have beaten Forest Hill and Warren Central, and we know we can play. In the end (tonight) we picked up the intensity and stayed after it.&uot;

The Lady Bulldogs’ press late buoyed their way to a 22-7 advantage in the fourth quarter and an 18-2 run put the game away. The Lady Wildcats led for a good part of the game and had a 36-31 lead midway through the fourth quarter before things unraveled while playing against the Natchez press.

&uot;We went to a zone press and a half-court man,&uot; McClatchy said. &uot;That’s the first time we’ve used that. We got that from the players (Thursday) in practice. We got some critical turnovers, wore them down and broke their spirits. Number 20 (Latasha Williams), we never could stop her. When she gave it up, we tried to keep her from getting it back.&uot;

Williams, the junior point guard who does most of the ball handling for the Lady Wildcats, finished the game with 13 points but none in the fourth quarter. Already down a starter with Erika Lewis out with 16 stitches to close a wound suffered during an altercation, Williams had to handle the bulk of the ball-handling duties.

It also took away a person to come in off the bench, leaving the team struggling to finish it out against the Lady Bulldogs’ press.

&uot;They kept fresh legs on the floor at all times,&uot; WC head coach Edwin White said. &uot;We made some mistakes in the fourth quarter, but I attribute that to fatigue. Fatigue came down to being the difference. If we would have had somebody on the bench to go out, I think it would have been a different game. But they’re a much-improved team from the first game (we played them). My hat goes off to their coaching staff.&uot;

The Lady Bulldogs held a 27-22 lad late in the third quarter before Wilkinson County got three straight baskets from Williams and a 3-ponter from Rosalyn Lacy with 31 seconds left to take a 31-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs cut it to two on a bucket from Delequa Drake at the 7:26 mark, but the Lady Wildcats got a three-point play from LaToya Bailey with 5:32 left for a 36-31 lead.

Block 62, Delhi 60

JONESVILLE, La. &045; The Block Lady Bears defeated Delhi 62-60 to ensure a first-place tie with visiting Lady Bears in district play.

Now both teams will have to play each other at 6 p.m. Monday to determine the district champion and the No. 1 and No. 2 seed from District 4-1A in the state playoffs.

Block (13-13, 6-2) took a 15-12 lead after one quarter of play, but Delhi (9-13, 6-2) cut the lead to one at halftime, 27-26.

Block then outscored Delhi 15-10 in the third quarter to increase its lead to six going into the fourth quarter.

The final eight minutes had a lot of offense as Block held on for the win despite being outscored 24-20.

Warren Central 69, Jefferson 53

FAYETTE &045; The Lady Vikings had two much firepower and too many scorers for the Lady Tigers to stop on their way to a big win.

Eleven players for Warren Central (19-8) ended up in the scoring column, led by Cookie Johnson with 15 points and Tranyee Peoples with 14 points.

Warren Central dominated this game from the start, taking a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 33-23 lead at halftime.

McCall 70, Ferriday 43

TALLULAH, La. &045; The Lady Dragons, the top-ranked team in Class 2A, clinched the District 4-2A championship with an impressive win over the Lady Trojans.

Bettina Fountain led McCall (30-0, 8-0) with 22 points. Jameca Garrison led Ferriday (12-10, 3-5) with 19 points.

Lake Providence 70, Vidalia 29

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. &045; The Lady Panthers (22-6, 6-2) turned a close game into a rout in the second half, outscoring the Lady Vikings (0-15, 0-8) 50-12 over the final 16 minutes.

Freda Allen led Lake Providence with 17 points. Dominique Trimble led Vidalia with 14 points.

Enterprise 45, Cathedral 29

BROOKHAVEN &045; The Lady Yellow Jackets needed a win over the Lady Green Wave to end up in a tie with St. Aloysius to determine the fourth and fifth seeds in next week’s Region 7-1A tournament.

And a win is what they got as Alicia Mason and company were too much for the Lady Green Wave to handle.

Mason led Enterprise (8-20, 5-7) with a game-high 14 points. Allyson Burns led Cathedral (3-20, 2-10) with eight points.