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By Patrick Jones

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Just like in their first meeting on Friday, Jan. 22, the Natchez High School Lady Bulldogs played outstanding defense in the first half of their MHSAA Region 6-5A game against the Jim Hill High School Lady Tigers.

The only thing that was different was the margin of victory last Thursday night in their made-up game. Kelsey McNeal led all scorers with 19 points as the Lady Bulldogs remained undefeated in Region 6-5A with a 42-34 win over the Lady Tigers.

With the win, the Lady Bulldogs (8-4, 5-0) wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the Region 6-5A Tournament, which Natchez High School will host Feb. 9-13.

These two teams were originally scheduled to play each other at the Mary Jean Irving Memorial Gym on the Natchez High campus on Tuesday, Jan. 12, but that game was postponed for more than two weeks.

Natchez High held Jim Hill to four points in the first quarter and eight points in the second quarter. However, the Lady Bulldogs didn’t put up as many points in either of those quarters as they did in their first encounter. Still, they led the Lady Tigers 11-4 after one quarter of play and 23-12 at halftime.

Both teams scored nine points in the third quarter and the Lady Tigers surprisingly outscored the Lady Bulldogs 12-10 in the fourth quarter, but they were not able to put together a big rally to get back in the game.

The Lady Tigers were led by Amauri Quick with 17 points and Ariel Smith with eight points.

Olivia Davis added nine points and Kyla Butler chipped in with six points for the Lady Bulldogs (8-4, 5-0), who traveled to Jackson to take on Wingfield High School Friday night with an opportunity to run the table in regular-season region play.