MCCOMB &045; Here’s just a little proof that Wilkinson County’s win over Jefferson County’s boys was no fluke.

The Wildcats ran away from South Pike, 68-49, in the McComb tournament Thursday in the third meeting of the two teams so far this season.

The first game the Wildcats won by two. The second one went into triple overtime.

The third one, well, was all but over by halftime.

&uot;That was probably the best game we’ve played,&uot; Wilkinson County head coach Henry Story said. &uot;We were hitting our shots, and we got a lot of our offense on our layups &045; things off the defense. We went to the pressure a couple of times, and we scored eight straight points before they got the ball up the floor.&uot;

The second quarter was where the Wildcats struck the hardest after they held a modest 13-6 lead by the end of the first. The Wildcats held a 23-14 edge in the second to take a commanding 36-20 lead at the break.

Wilkinson County then held a 15-10 edge in the third quarter to lead 51-30 heading into the fourth quarter.

&uot;We had a good quarter,&uot; Story said. &uot;In the third quarter we were kind of raggedy, but we still kind of outscored them. They never recovered after the second quarter. We played very good defense the second quarter, and that kind of blew the game apart.&uot;

Bryant Spiller and Timothy Jarvis each led Wilkinson County with 17 points. The Wildcats play at 3:30 p.m. today against Amite, La.

Wingfield boys 65, Jefferson Co. 51

JACKSON &045; An explosive first quarter was enough to put the Tigers looking up at things Thursday in the Jackson Public Schools/Pepsi Holiday tournament.

Wingfield raced out to a 24-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and added a 19-15 edge in the second quarter to lead 43-23 at halftime.

The Tigers bounced back a bit in the third with a 21-8 edge to trim the lead to 51-44, but Wingfield outscored the Tigers in the fourth, 14-7.

Dewones Smith led Jefferson County with 18. Emmanuel Coleman led Wingfield with 21.

Natchez High girls 71, Prentiss 41

HATTIESBURG &045; Whatever wasn’t working at the start got fixed in a hurry.

No one with Natchez High was apparently satisfied with a 30-21 lead at halftime, so the Lady Bulldogs answered with an 18-7 run in the third quarter to essentially put the game away.

That gave Natchez a 48-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter in the Hattiesburg Holiday tournament contest.

&uot;Nothing different,&uot; Natchez head coach Mary Irving said. &uot;We went in at halftime and talked about the things we were doing wrong. We saw the things we weren’t doing, and we came back in the second half and played much better ball. We talked about our defense and moved our feet a little more on defense. Having a nine-point lead at halftime, it could have been anyone’s game coming into the second half.&uot;

The Lady Bulldogs never fell behind early, taking a 13-10 lead by the end of the first quarter before outscoring Prentiss 17-11 in the second quarter for the nine-point halftime lead.

&uot;The first half was slow,&uot; Irving said. &uot;We sort of tried to size up the team and didn’t play well. We tried to adapt to the tempo, but we came back in the third quarter and did much better.&uot;

Gloria Lewis led Natchez with 19 points. The Lady Bulldogs play at 8 p.m. today against Laurel.

Murrah girls 64, Jefferson County 56

JACKSON &045; The Lady Tigers couldn’t come up with an answer in the second half before falling in the opener of the Jackson Public Schools/Pepsi Holiday tournament.

The Lady Tigers took a 10-7 lead after one and held a 24-21 lead at halftime. That’s when Murrah outscored Jefferson County 21-16 in the third to lead 42-40 heading into the fourth.

Murrah did more of the same in the fourth, holding a 22-16 edge.

Travalyn Smith led Jefferson County with 28. Murrah’s top scorer was Bavonda Moore with 24.

Wilkinson County girls 43, St. Helena (La.) Central 39

MCCOMB &045; The Lady Wildcats did the damage in the first half &045; just enough to hold on to the win.

St. Helena trailed 35-24 heading into the fourth quarter and outscored Wilkinson County 15-8 in the fourth quarter &045; good, but not enough to get over the hump.

Wilkinson County led 13-6 at the end of the first and held a 21-14 lead at half.

Kim Griffin led Wilkinson County with 12 poitns. Alisha Lee had 19 for the Lady Hawks.

Wilkinson County plays at 2 p.m today against South Pike.