Sophomore guard Shane Lynch scored a career-high 20 pointsTuesday night, leading the host West Lincoln Bears to a 46-36 winover Natchez Cathedral in a Division 7-1A basketball test. In thevarsity girls game, Alicia Kennedy’s 25 points powered West Lincolnto a lopsided 70-24 win in Jack Case Gymnasium.

West Lincoln resumes play Friday, hosting Pelahatchie for aDivision doubleheader. The girls game tips off at 6 p.m.

The Bears (7-8, 4-1) remained in the runningfor the top rung in the division race. They are defending divisiontournament champions. The division tournament is Feb. 16-20 atCathedral.

Cathedral used a Box-and-One defense in an attempt to slow downBrooks Smith, West Lincoln’s leading scorer. Smith finished with 15points, sacking 3 treys but the big story was Lynch who made 9 of13 field goal attempts.

“Shane Lynch had his best high school game tonight,” said WestLincoln coach Lane Young. “Our man-to-man defense was really good.We took (Cathedral) out of what they wanted to do.”

West Lincoln, leading Cathedral 21-18 at halftime, turned up thedefensive heat in the third quarter. The Bears limited the GreenWave to just 3 points and built a 31-21 advantage.

“West Lincoln did a good job on defense,” said Cathedral coachBobby Holder. “We had a chance to stay close but the third quarterkilled us. West Lincoln kept the pressure on us.”

Holder, in his second year at Cathedral, was a long-timeassistant coach at Natchez. Before that, he coached at Monticellobefore consolidation.

The Greenies (5-12, 2-3) got 14 points from playmaker RussellBarmer. Late in the second quarter, the Greenies reduced WestLincoln’s lead to 1 point, 19-18, on Eric Lee’s field goal. KevinKing’s jumper with 42 second left gave West Lincoln a slim 21-18halftime lead.

Brooks Smith sacked a trey and Lynch hit 3 straight field goalsto start the second half pushing the Bears ahead 30-21. The Bearsdidn’t commit a personal foul until 3:15 of the third quarter.

The Lady Bears (11-4, 5-0) remained unbeaten inthe division race. They led Cathedral’s girls 39-15 at halftime andheld them scoreless in the third quarter, taking a 57-15 lead.

Kennedy also accounted for 11 rebounds and 4 steals. GuardLauren Smith followed with 6 rebounds and 4 steals. Christine Hunthad 5 boards and Kala Shaw made 4 steals.