By PATRICK JONES

The Natchez Democrat

MINDEN, La. — The Trinity Episcopal Saints saw their season come to an end much sooner than expected as the District 5-AA champions were upset by the Tallulah Academy Trojans 57-56 Tuesday afternoon in the first round of the MAIS Class AA South State Tournament at Glenbrook School.

Tallulah Academy, the District 6-AA No. 4 seed, escaped with the win after almost giving Trinity Episcopal the win in the closing seconds. The Trojans were up by one point with nine seconds left when the Saints were brining the ball up the court. A pass was knocked out of bounds by a Tallulah Academy player, giving Trinity one last chance with 1.2 seconds remaining.

DeSanto Rollins got around a screen and received the inbounds pass from Sterling Yarbrough, but his lay-up attempt was a little too strong off the backboard and just like that the Saints’ season was over.

“It sucks to lose, but I’m proud of them,” Saints head coach Chris Bunio said. “We didn’t accomplish all that we wanted to. But they left it all out on the court.”

Trinity got off to a good start and led Tallulah Academy 12-7 at the end of the first quarter. But a couple of Saints players got into early foul trouble and that allowed the Trojans outscore them 17-16 in the second quarter, but the Saints still led at halftime 28-24.

Tallulah Academy continued to chip away at Trinity’s lead in the third quarter and was down by just two points, 39-37, at the quarter’s end. Bunio said that because of foul trouble in the second half, his team was not able to as aggressive as it would like to have been.

“By the end of the third quarter, we had one player with four fouls and another with three. Tallulah did a good job at the free-throw line. They took advantage of that,” Bunio said.

The Trojans also hit some big shots from long distance, making seven 3-pointers while the Saints made only two shots from 3-point range. Tallulah Academy outscored Trinity 20-17 in the fourth quarter.

“They did a good job of spacing. We didn’t do a good job of getting through the screens and to their players,” Bunio said.

David Jackson finished with 17 points and Demond Fleming had 13 points for the Saints, who finished with an overall record of 14-6.

Trinity Episcopal girls 75, Union Christian Academy 24

MINDEN, La. — In the opening game of the first round of the MAIS Class AA South State Tournament at Glenbrook School, the Trinity Episcopal Lady Saints made an emphatic statement as the District 5-AA champions took care of District 6 No. 4 seed Union Christian Academy Lady Lions 75-24 Tuesday afternoon.

Trinity Episcopal jumped out to a double-digit lead early in the first quarter and had a 26-6 advantage over Union Christian at the end of the quarter. The Lady Saints led the Lady Lions 41-15 at halftime and 64-21 at the end of the third quarter.

D’Asia Mitchell led the Lady Saints with a game-high 27 points and Tali Beard added 22 points. Jasmine Ivory chipped in with 12 points and Sloane Young had 10 points.

Trinity Episcopal (22-5) will take on District 6 No. 2 seed Tallulah Academy in a semifinal-round game at 4 p.m. Friday. With the win on Tuesday afternoon, the Lady Saints also secured a berth in next week’s Class AA State Tournament. The Lady Trojans defeated District 5, No. 3 seed Amite School Center 46-28 in the day’s other girls quarterfinals game.