NATCHEZ — The Cathedral Green Wave hung tough with Piney Woods in the first half.

But a second-half surge by the Tornadoes broke open a close game, as Piney Woods tallied a 73-32 win in MHSAA Region 7-1A action Friday night.

Cathedral was originally scheduled to play at Piney Woods, but a leak at the Piney Woods gym forced the games to be played at Cathedral.

“We got beat 40-10 in the second half. That’s a testament to how we played in the first half,” Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold said. “We played under control in the first half. We were only down five in the second quarter. I was really proud of our guys in the first half.”

With the first half winding down, Piney Woods started to pull away from Cathedral and had a 33-22 lead at halftime. Then the Tornadoes took over and there was nothing the Green Wave could do to slow them down.

Led by Ole Miss signee Dwight Coleby, Piney Woods outscored Cathedral 18-3 in the third quarter and 22-7 in the fourth quarter. Coleby ended up leading all scorers with 23 points while Jah-Gamba Felix had 12 points.

“The second half just goes to show how good they are. They’re huge. They’re fast. They just wore us down,” Arnold said. “Coleby is 6-9. In the second half, he had nine throwdown dunks. They were just exceptionally good.”

Cathedral (6-13, 0-4) was led by Jardarius Anderson with seven points and R.J. Givens added six points. The Green Wave hosts Hinds Agricultural High School Tuesday night.

Cathedral girls 61,

Piney Woods 23

Wesley Calloway, Kennedy Gray and Taylor Beesley led Cathedral with 10 points each as the Lady Green Wave rolled to a surprisingly easy win over the Piney Woods Lady Tornadoes in MHSAA Region 7-1A action Friday night.

The keys to Cathedral’s win a combination of balanced scoring and using a defense that Piney Woods was not used to seeing.

“We played a triangle-and-1 defense and that’s what won the game,” Lady Green Wave head coach Randy Smith said. “We did a lot of fast-breaking.”

Piney Woods’ Raven Thompson came into this game averaging 32 points a game. Cathedral held her to just nine points. Kiwanda Kelly led the Lady Tornadoes with 10 points.

Cathedral (7-12, 2-2) hosts Hinds Agricultural High School Tuesday night.