Natchez High girls coach Mary Irving said her team has gotten over the disappointment of losing to Jackson Provine in the finals of the Division 6-5A Tournament here last week.

A win over Harrison Central in Gulfport tonight in the first round of South State 5A will help ease those feelings even more.

The Lady Bulldogs (10-21) meet the Rebelettes (24-10) at 6 p.m. with the winner advancing to the South State 5A Tournament.

&uot;The girls are pretty hyped-up,&uot; Irving said. &uot;We know we could have beaten Provine, but our girls just kind of stood around when they started coming back and let them have.&uot;

Irving said the Lady Bulldogs are going into the contest with a lot of confidence.

&uot;We have to play ball control and not let them get the momentum early,&uot; she said. &uot;We have the talent, we just need to put it to good use. It depends on how much they want it.&uot;

Harrison Central defeated Gulfport in the finals of the 8-5A Tournament.

&uot;We’re not near as talented as we have been the last three years,&uot; said Rebelettes coach David Lipscomb. &uot;In 1997 we won it (5A title over Vicksburg) with seven seniors and three are still playing college ball, two in Division I-A. We don’t have anybody being recruited now.&uot;

Lipscomb said the key to his team’s success this year is consistency.

&uot;We play good defense and have balanced scoring,&uot; he said. &uot;We have four girls averaging 8-10 points a game. We’ve been able to spread it around and played good enough to win.&uot;

The Rebelettes are averaging 50 points a game, while allowing 44.

&uot;We mix up our defense a lot, depending on the situation,&uot; Lipscomb said. &uot;We’ll press if it calls for it.&uot;

Lipscomb said he is very impressed with Natchez High.

&uot;I saw them play Brookhaven and they lost the game, but played extremely hard,&uot; he said. &uot;They have a lot of depth. (Angel) Taylor is a good post person and (Christen) West is real quick. (Jakeisha) Hawkins does a good job. They have pretty good quickness. They are very athletic and should match up well with us. We’re about the same size.&uot;

The Natchez-Harrison Central winner faces the winner of the Ocean Springs-Meridian contest on Friday.

Other South State 5A games are Northwest Rankin at Moss Point and Gulport at Provine.

If Meridian wins tonight, the Lady Wildcats will host South State.