Natchez High School had difficulty protecting the basketball Tuesday night, and on the game’s final play, the Lady Bulldogs’ carelessness came back to bite them.

Natchez turned the ball over on an inbound play with 5 seconds remaining, allowing Brookhaven High School to slip away with a 44-42 win in girls basketball action.

“We had a play drawn up to get the ball to Aja Carter at midcourt,” Natchez girls coach Tim Richardson said. “(The ball) hit her in the hands, and unfortunately she didn’t come up with it … But that wasn’t the main (reason) in the eventual outcome of the game.”

Natchez led at the half 21-18, but turned the ball over on four of its opening five possessions of the second half, allowing Brookhaven to charge ahead, 26-21.

“We’re playing some younger players at the guard positions, and there’s going to be turnovers, that’s part of the game, especially when you have young players,” Richardson said. “We’re working on getting them some experience and time on the court, but we didn’t take care of the ball, and that hurt us.”

The Lady Bulldogs remained without standout senior Kirdis Clark, who has missed the past several contests with an injury.

“She’s rehabbing and trying to get back as soon as possible,” Richardson said. “But there’s no timetable on her return.”

Fellow seniors Destiny Lyles and Asia Carridine picked up the slack, as the low-post duo combined to score 23 points. Carter also poured in 13.

“Destiny missed a game last Friday, but she came back wonderful her first game back,” Richardson said. “Asia has been playing very well the last few games. She really has a lot of confidence right now, Destiny as well.”

Shania Harris led Brookhaven with a game-high 20 points, while Tamia Stallings had 14.

With the loss, Natchez has now lost six of its past seven games and will attempt to get back on track Friday when it hosts Provine High School.

Brookhaven (boys) 72, Natchez 64

A 14-2 Brookhaven spurt to begin the third quarter proved too much for Natchez to overcome as it fell in boys basketball Tuesday night.

Natchez trailed 37-31 at the half, but came out flat to begin the final two periods.

“Too many unforced turnovers and missed free throws,” Natchez coach David Haywood said. “When playing games like these, in region with teams real familiar with each other and have good scouting reports on each other, it comes down to the small things. The small things determine the game.”

The Bulldogs trailed 55-42 to begin the fourth quarter, but managed to trim the deficit to single digits on multiple occasions, however, were never able to come closer than the eight-point final margin.

“It came down to us executing and completing plays,” Haywood said. “And when we needed to, we just didn’t.”

Izzy Holmes Jr. led Natchez with 31 points, including 19 in the second half. Post player Larry Griffin had 13, with the majority of his points coming in the second half.

“The team looks to (Griffin) to be that spark and to be the energy,” Haywood said. “Early on, it wasn’t there. We had some opportunities around the basket early, we just didn’t cash in. We had some great looks, we just didn’t complete the play.”

Haywood said the key for his squad is for Holmes and Griffin to continue playing at a consistently high level.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve got to work, and we’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got some potential, we’ve just got to be consistent mentally and physically.”

Damarius Brooks led Brookhaven with 23 points, including 13 in the first half. Lafollete Bogan had 11.