NATCHEZ &045; A non-factor through the first half, Adams County Christian senior April Boyd brought her A-game to the court at Bob Ulmer Gymnasium in the second half Thursday.

Trinity had no match for Boyd, who continued to crash the boards, knock down pick shots and pass to the open man when the defense collapsed on her.

Boyd’s 14 points were a game-high in the Lady Rebels’ 36-24 victory over the Saints.

&uot;That’s the way it’s supposed to work,&uot; AC head coach Bruce Pickle said of his offense. &uot;We try and let (Boyd) touch the ball at least one time down the floor. It was hard to get it into (Boyd) during the first half because they had three or four people on here. We finally started to do that in the second half.&uot;

The rivals got caught in a defensive battle early on, as neither team reached double figures by the first half’s end.

The baskets started coming more frequently in the third period, as Boyd got hot for eight of her total and Trinity’s Jessica Marchbanks scored all six of her points in the third.

&uot;AC stepped it up in the second half,&uot; Lady Saints head coach Melanie Hall said. &uot;We are starting to gel and it’s fun right now. I’ve been blessed with a great group of kids. I told them to continue to play four quarters and good things are going to happen.&uot;

Boyd scored the last four points of the third in the final 90 seconds to bring AC within a bucket, 21-19, heading into a pivotal fourth.

She continued her scoring ways, scoring just 21 seconds into the final period to tie the game.

&uot;Give Trinity a lot of credit, they came in here ready to play,&uot; Pickle said. &uot;I guess

didn’t prepare us well enough. We didn’t pressure or do anything in the first half. We couldn’t hit our outside shots.&uot;

After the Lady Saints took a brief 22-21 lead on a Mallory Archer free throw, Boyd scored on a turnaround jumper in the lane and a putback to push the Lady Rebels out to a 25-22 lead with 4:23 remaining.

Thanks to some clutch trips to the charity stripe from Anna McLemore, Kim Robertson and Nikki Hankins, AC never surrendered its lead.

&uot;We made our free throws down the stretch and I’m just glad to get out of here with a win,&uot; Pickle said. &uot;That first half we were out of sorts, but we settled down the second half.&uot;

Sierra Massey led Trinity with nine points, as her 3-pointer in the third gave Trinity a

17-12 lead, its biggest of the game.

&uot;The first time we played, AC had their way with us,&uot; Hall said. &uot;My girls came out tonight on a mission. They were fired up and ready to play ball.&uot;

&uot;I couldn’t be any prouder of a group of girls than I am with mine.&uot;

Each team had a pair of leads in the first half, with four ties, the last of which, 8-8, came on a Suzannah Ketchings bucket off good ball reversal from the Lady Saints.