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BROOKHAVEN —  Defense led the way for Brookhaven in a 52-27 district girls basketball win over Natchez Tuesday night. Ole Brook held the Bulldogs to five points in the first half and shut out the visitors in the opening quarter to jump out to a 27-5 lead at half. 

Angel Wilkinson led the Panthers in scoring with 19 points and three three pointers. Alexis Kelly had nine points and Makiya Stallings had eight points. Stallings started beside her fellow senior teammate Leah Wilcher guarding the hoop and paint. Together, they made offense difficult for Natchez. 

“We just came out there and shut them down and got our momentum up. We were playing well as a team in the first half. I can’t explain it, we just played good,” Stallings said. “On offense, we wanted to work the ball inside and our perimeter shooters shot well. We got the ball inside on offense, got offensive boards and worked the gaps.” 

After halftime, Natchez came out and scored 11 points in each of the next two quarters. It was not enough to overcome a slow start but they kept working to score points. Olivia Davis led the Bulldogs with eight points. Cylenthia Reed and Jaliyah Wright had five points for the Bulldogs. 

Natchez head coach Alphaka Moore shared some good news following the loss. Junior Mikiah Proby was selected to the 2023 North/South All-Star Game presented by Mississippi Sports Medicine. Proby is a student at Natchez High and Natchez Early College.