Brookhaven Academy’s Lady Cougars will add another banner to therafters on the west end of John R. Gray Gymnasium. They took careof business Saturday afternoon and whipped the Leake Academy girls64-39 in MPSA Class AA State Tournament championship game.

A capacity crowd of over 1,200 watched the Lady Cougars (38-1)dismantle Leake’s Lady Rebels with a stifling defense and abalanced offense. Directing the attack was sophomore guard KelliByrd who broke loose for 15 of her team-high 17 points in thesecond half as the Lady Cougars made a successful state titledefense in front of the enthusiastic, partisan crowd.

Leake (39-3) was unable to get its offense in gear against thescrappy, hustling hosts. The Lady Rebels had 24 turnovers comparedto 8 for BA.

Brookhaven Academy head coach Barry Gray won his fourth statetitle in five years. He complimented the Lady Cougars who will playWednesday in the Overall Tournament at Mississippi College inClinton.

“I think it really was our best game of the year for all fourquarters,” said Gray. “It was amazing how hard we played. Our teamdefense was good.”

Gray said 5-11 senior center Anna Gatlin did a good jobdefensing Leake’s high-scoring Kristen Caldwell. “Anna’s defense onCaldwell was phenomenal.”

Gatlin finished with 6 points and 3 steals. She joined AngieDavis and Jessie Altman in helping control the inside game. Altmanhad 10 points and 4 rebounds.

“Caldwell is really a good post player,” said Gatlin. “We wantedto take her baseline play away.”

The Lady Cougars sprang to a 10-0 lead and maintained control ofthe contest. Point guard Lauren Smith scored 6 of the game’s first10 points. She finished with 14 points and 4 steals.

“We were all very excited about playing Leake,” said Smith. “Weplayed a good game against a strong team. It was rough out there.Kelli got hammered and so did Anna.”

Caldwell, a 5-10 junior, was whistled for a technical foul inthe first quarter and picked up her third personal foul late in thefirst half. Smith sacked 2 straight jumpers to give the Cougars a28-14 halftime lead. A running, jump hook by Abby Williams gave BAan 18-10 lead to start the second quarter.

“I thought Brookhaven really killed us rebounding,” said Leakecoach Doyle Wolverton. “Their guards really worked and got everyloose ball.”

The Lady Rebels (39-3) got 18 points from freshman guardGreggina Tadlock. Caldwell had 10 points and 5 rebounds.

A baseline jumper by Mallory Logan gave the Cougars a 38-19 leadwith 3:11 left in the third quarter. Byrd scored 7 of her points inthe third frame.

Consolation Contest

In Saturday’s consolation game, Simpson County beat PresbyterianChristian School 38-29, led by Beth Guess and Adriane Lee with 10points each. Twelve points by Meredith Campbell led PCS inscoring.

Semifinals Results

In Friday’s semifinals, Brookhaven blasted Simpson County 60-33as Altman accounted for 19 points and 13 rebounds. Gatlin chippedin 14 points and 6 rebounds. Logan added 10 points, 4 assists and 4steals.

Simpson (26-15) got 10 points from Adriane Lee.

In the other semifinals game, Leake turned back PresbyterianChristian School of Hattiesburg 48-47 as Caldwell hit a second freethrow with 0.7 seconds left to play. Caldwel led all scorers with26 points and Tadlock 11.

The PCS girls got 20 points from Mallory Lee.