JACKSON — The Natchez High Lady Bulldogs were victorious in the final 24 minutes Thursday night against Murrah. Unfortunately, the first eight minutes counted as much as the last eight.

Natchez found itself down 18-5 at the end of the first quarter and could never recover, falling 60-53 to the Lady Mustangs in the first round of the State Tournament.

“It took us awhile to get used to the atmosphere and the crowd,” Natchez coach Sue Johnson said. “Murrah was cool, calm and collected. They’ve been here a hundred times. We were nervous. Once we calmed down and got used to the environment, we were fine.”

Murrah took its biggest lead of the game at 29-10 midway through the first half before Natchez finally woke up.

The Lady Bulldogs made a run at the start of the third quarter, but Murrah answered with a run of their own to push the lead back to 17 points at 45-28.

However, Natchez dug deep and came back one more time, led by Keosha Bradley. The junior guard hit back-to-back NBA range 3-pointers to trim the deficit to 11 points.

Bradley hit six 3-pointers, and scored 28 points in the game. Twenty of those were in the second half.

“It felt good,” Bradley said of her 3-point shooting. “It felt like every shot was going to go in. I was just doing what I could do to get us back in the game.”

However, every time Natchez would cut into Murrah’s lead, the Lady Mustangs would have a response, mostly from center Brandi Simmons. The senior scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against the smaller Natchez post players.

“She had a weight advantage,” Natchez senior forward Alia Frank said. “She was pretty tough.”

Natchez entered the fourth quarter down 45-34 and had several opportunities to get back into the game in the final eight minutes.

Natchez cut the lead to seven points on two different occasions, but missed layups on two different occasions that could have trimmed the deficit even farther. Frank, in particular, was left to rue what could have been if she had gotten a couple of more baskets to fall.

“I missed too many layups,” Frank, who scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, said. “If I had just made three of them it would have been a different game. It’s the little things that make the difference.”

“We got opportunities but we kept blowing them,” Johnson said. “Murrah got a break, baby.”

Natchez tried one final time to come back when Anastasia Hutchins, who scored 12 points in the game, grabbed a rebound and put it back in to make the score 55-48 with 1:20 remaining. However, Murrah made 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to preserve the victory.

“I’m proud of the girls for coming back the way they did,” Johnson said. “They could have just laid down but they fought back.”

Johnson gave credit to her assistant coaches and support staff for helping the Lady Bulldogs get to their first State Tournament during her time as head coach.

“I’ve got to thank my assistant coaches, Charles Credit, DeeDee Cain and Christopher Sherman, as well as Robert Lewis Middle School coaches Willie Woods and Bonita Hamilton,” Johnson said. “Also our athletic director Fred Butcher, athletic secretary Beatrice Collins, principal James Lofton and booster club president Sam Washington. Without those people supporting us, we couldn’t have made it as far as we did.”

Murrah (21-2) advances to the tournament semifinals where it will face Harrison Central. Natchez ends its season with a 21-9 record.

Natchez’s season might have ended three games short of where they wanted it to, but the year was still a great success, Frank said.

“We set a goal at the beginning of the season to get to the Big House, and we did it,” Frank said. “We would have liked to go on, but it was a great experience. I’ve been shooting for this since my ninth grade year, and I finally made it.”