BOGUE CHITTO – Coach Christi Terrell was happy to win Wednesdaynight but she was looking for improved play from her Lady Catsafter they eliminated South Leake 63-50 in the opening round of theSouth Mississippi Class 1A playoffs. Terrell watched her teamovercome 23 turnovers as Darcy Miller scored 17 points and AneshaDillon netted 15 in R.L. “Bob” Calhoun Gymnasium.

The Cats (26-3) advance to the South quarterfinals that will behosted by West Lincoln Friday. They’ll play Montgomery County, a46-27 winner over Hattiesburg Sacred Heart, at 8:30 p.m.

Salem plays West Lincoln at 5:30 and McAdams meets East Oktibbehaat 7. Weir plays Ethel at 4 p.m.

Semifinals are Saturday and the finals are Monday, Feb. 22. Onlythe top two teams advance to the state tournament in Jackson.

“We played sloppy,” said Terrell. “We had too many turnovers and wemissed too many free throws,” noting her team’s 21-for-36 showingfrom the charity stripe.

“Our defense wasn’t bad,” Terrell pointed out. “My girls hustledand played hard. We got in foul trouble early.”

South Leake (7-21), with only one senior on the team, got off to aslow start, committing eight first-quarter turnovers as the Catsclaimed a 15-5 lead. The hosts went ahead by 17 points, 26-9, whenMiller drained a trey from the corner.

The Lady Wildcats committed 21 turnovers in the game but theyreduced their 34-23 halftime deficit to 8 points, 36-28, on a shortjumper by Megan Fortune. BC got back-to-back layups from AdrienneHall to regain some momentum as they lost starting guard JosiePorter to four personal fouls. Porter sat out nearly 10 minutes ofthe game before returning to action.

Porter was able to draw a charging foul that eliminated SouthLeake’s electric guard Venecia Williams who consistently penetratedBC defense with layups. Williams fouled out with 2:56 left to play,scoring 16 points.

South Leake coach Carl Hathorn said Bogue Chitto maintained itscomposure in crucial situations. “They didn’t get rattled. I toldmy young ladies that Bogue Chitto was well-disciplined. I felt likewe didn’t have enough speed to keep up with them so we started outin a zone defense.”

Jasmine Johnson scored a game-high 19 points for the Lady Wildcats.She also had 5 rebounds.

The BC girls were big on the backboards, grabbing 46 reboundscompared to SL’s 25. They were led by Shelby Tobias with 13rebounds. Tearion Rogers had 8 rebounds.

Porter dished out 4 assists and Miller made 4 steals.