JACKSON – Bogue Chitto’s Cinderella season came to an end Fridaynight as the Byers Lady Lions eliminated the Lady Cats 49-37 in thesemifinal round of the MHSAA State 1A Tournament in the MississippiColiseum.

In other girls’ tournament action, the Ripley Lady Tigers defeatedSE Lauderdale Lady Tigers 73-63. The Choctaw Central Lady Warriorscrushed the Belmont Lady Cardinals 61-49.

In boys’ action, the Booneville Blue Devils managed to prevail overthe Forest Bearcats 60-50. The Corinth Warriors plunked the VelmaJackson Falcons 68-54, and the Dexter Bulldogs edged the MyrtleHawks 72-68.

This was the first appearance in the Big House for Bogue Chitto innine-years. The Lady Cats finished their amazing season with a 30-3worksheet.

Bogue Chitto accomplished their goal to make it to the Coliseum,but they will have some big shoes to fill next year as they loseseven seniors: Josie Porter, Aneshia Dillon, Bradi Davis, AshleyBickham, Tesheon Rogers, Darcy Miller and Teareon Rogers.

“We have a great group of girls,” said Bogue Chitto coach ChristiTerrell. “The seniors have led us all year and they will be misseddearly. It was good for the Lady Cats to make it back to the BigHouse and I am glad that the girls got to experience this.”

Byers 49, Bogue Chitto 37

The Byers and Bogue Chitto faithful followers witnessed a classicbout as both teams fought hard defensively. Each team struggledoffensively in the first half.

The Lady Cats managed to score the first bucket of the game whenJosie Porter sacked a short jumper at the 6:24 mark in the firstquarter. The Lions captured their first basket at the 5-minute markon Kyra Gulledge put-back.

Byers continued to turn up the heat on defense using their size andathletic ability to cause chaos for the Bogue Chitto guards. Butthe Lady Cats refused to be intimated and fought hard to stay inthe game as the Lady Lions led at halftime 26-18.

In the second half, the Lady Cats and Byers continued theirdefensive battle. The Lady Lions managed to hold on to a 39-32 leadat the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Bogue Chitto came out of the huddle andbattled hard as they trimmed the Byers lead down to four pointswith 5 minutes left. The Lady Cats started to wore down the LadyLions defense and gain some momentum on offense. Byers elected tocall a timeout to discuss a new game plan in hopes of cooling offthe Lady Cats’ rally.

After the timeout, the Lions elected to stall the ball and spreadout BC’s defense to gain a one-on-one advantage and hold on for thevictory.

Aneshia Dillon pumped in a team-high 11 points to lead the LadyCats. Tesheon Rogers was the leader on the boards with 10 reboundsand 8 points. Bradi Davis contributed 9 rebounds.

“Byers has a good physical team,” continued Terrell. “They have thesize, height and good shooters. We struggled with that at first,but we settled down and played hard.

“Overall, I am very proud of the girls for doing a great job thisseason,” stated Terrell. “These girls helped put Bogue Chitto backon the map.”

Junior forward Alexis Hardaway knocked down a game-high 17 pointsto lead the Lions. Senior Kourtney Coleman netted 10 points.

“We played horrible, but I am glad to get the win,” said Byerscoach Jason Thompson. “Bogue Chitto has a tough team and theirgirls did not quit. Hopefully, we can get out of this funk we arein and do better in the championship game.”