WOODVILLE — Jefferson County center Antrell Gales had her way with Wilkinson County as she led all scorers with 26 points as the Lady Tigers cruised to a 64-48 win over the Lady Wildcats Thursday afternoon in the girls’ semifinals of the MHSAA Division 7-3A Tournament at Wilkinson County High School.

But it wasn’t just her presence in the post that led No. 1 seed Jefferson County to victory. It was also the performances of fellow center Diamond Smith, who finished with 14 points, and forward Rachel Shelvy, who had 12 points.

The Lady Tigers played outstanding team basketball on both ends of the court for much of the first three quarters. Which was something head coach Flora McKnight was more than pleased with.

“Aggressive defense. Up-tempo defense. We got some turnovers and rebounds. They all played well regardless of how many points they scored,” McKnight said. “They passed the ball well. They rebounded, got steals, blocked shots, and had assists.”

Jefferson County jumped out to a 22-10 lead over No. 5 seed Wilkinson County at the end of the first quarter. Even though the Lady Tigers scored only nine points in the second quarter, they held the Lady Wildcats to just seven points and took a 31-17 lead into halftime.

The third quarter was pretty much like the first quarter was — the Lady Tigers forcing turnovers and the Lady Wildcats struggling to get shots to fall. The result was, once again, a 22-10 advantage for the Lady Tigers and a commanding 53-27 lead.

“Our big girl, Diamond, had a good game. Antrell got a lot of easy baskets. She got a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks,” McKnight said. “We got out and ran with it. They played well as a team, offensively and defensively.”

Wilkinson County finally got going offensively in the fourth quarter and outscored Jefferson County 21-11, but the 26-point deficit was way too much to overcome.

Meisha Norman led the Lady Wildcats with 18 points and Erielle Jackson had 11 points.

Jefferson County (18-8) will take on the winner of the Hazlehurst/Franklin County game today in the girls’ championship game today at 7 p.m.

Wilkinson County (9-15) will take on the loser of that game at 4 p.m. today in the girls’ consolation game.

Crystal Springs boys 71,

Jefferson County 61

WOODVILLE — Zyn Baylis led No. 1 seed Crystal Springs with 16 points and Ricardo Archie had 15 points as the Tigers defeated the fourth-seeded Jefferson County Tigers 71-61 Thursday night in the boys’ semifinals of the MHSAA Division 7-3A Tournament at Wilkinson County High School.

Five players for Crystal Springs scored at least eight points and it was needed to, first, break open a close game after halftime and, secondly, overcome an outstanding game by Jefferson County’s Christian Day, who led all scorers with 27 points.

Crystal Springs led Jefferson County 14-9 after one quarter of play, but Jefferson County got back in the game by outscoring Crystal Springs 21-17 to go into halftime down by just one point, 31-30.

Unfortunately for Jefferson County, Crystal Springs regained the momentum during the third quarter and took a 53-46 lead into the fourth quarter. Then Crystal Springs outscored Jefferson County 18-15 in the final quarter.

Josh Day was the only other player for Jefferson County to score in double figures with 12 points.

Rodrick Smith added 10 points, Jeriko Morris scored nine points, and Zavion King chipped in with eight points for Crystal Springs.

Jefferson County (8-15) will take on the loser of the Franklin County/Wesson game today at 5:30 p.m. in the boys’ consolation game. Crystal Springs (16-8) will take on the winner of that game at 8:30 p.m. today in the boys’ championship game.

Weston girls 60,

Monterey 29

JONESBORO, La. — Weston High School’s Madison Brown almost scored as many points by herself as Monterey High School had as a team as she finished with 27 points in the host and eighth-seeded Lady Wolves’ 60-29 win over the visiting and 25th-seeded Lady Wolves Thursday night in the bi-district round of the LHSAA Class B Playoffs.

“Weston shot the ball extremely well. When they got open shots, they hit them. They didn’t miss free throws,” Monterey head coach Cary Shivley said.

Weston (24-10) held Monterey to no more than eight points in any of the four quarters.

The host Lady Wolves led the visiting Lady Wolves 17-7 at the end of the first quarter and 32-15 by halftime.

“They ran mostly a zone press and a zone defense. We played hard. We just couldn’t get the ball to fall for us. We got some good shots. They just wouldn’t fall for us. That happens sometimes,” Shivley said.

Hannah Morris added 12 points for District 1-1B runner-up Weston, which advanced to the regional round.

Jody Duncan scored 10 points and Sydney Woodruff had seven points for Monterey, which ended its season with a 16-11 overall record.

“We had a good season. We finished second in (District 6-B),” Shivley said.