BOGUE CHITTO – Senior guard Adrienne Wallace matched her jersey number with a game-high 13 points Friday night, sparking Bogue Chitto’s Lady Cats to a 46-32 victory against West Lincoln in Region 7-1A basketball action.

Bogue Chitto (17-4, 2-1), No. 2 behind Hinds AHS in the region race, applied a sticky, aggressive defense to dominate error-prone West Lincoln (8-12, 2-3). The Lady Bears committed 26 turnovers.

BC head coach Christi Terrell was happy to win but she pointed out her team’s need to improve. They advanced to last year’s state tournament after finishing second in the South Mississippi competition.

“Offensively, we were out of sync and we didn’t shoot the ball well,” said Terrell. “We got in early foul trouble.”

Terrell’s Cats were beasts on the backboards most of the game. Christian Black pulled down 9 rebounds and Marshonique Blackwell grabbed 7 as BC took a 23-12 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Wallace, Mattie Avants and Blackwell sacked treys, pushing BC’s lead to 36-23. Wallace, who signed a softball scholarship with Copiah-Lincoln Community College Tuesday, is on course to become the school’s valedictorian, added 5 assists to the victory. Zariah Matthews also made 5 assists.

West Lincoln continued to battle and reduced its 15-point, third-quarter deficit to 5 points, 37-32, on a field goal by Destiny Allen and a free throw by Katie Hester, with 3:14 left to play. The Cats responded. Mattie Avants sank a baseline jumper, Earlneishia Dillon made 3 of 4 free throws and Black bagged a pair of field goals down the stretch.

“Our girls made a run and cut (lead) to five,” said West Lincoln Lane Young. “Then (BC) made some points and we couldn’t recover.”

Tamasha Buckley’s 10 points and 9 rebounds led West Lincoln in scoring. Allen grabbed 7 rebounds and Hester 6.

Junior varsity Results

West Lincoln posted a 254-20 victory in the JV girls game, led by Karly Smith with 9 points and Layton Sills with 6. Brianna Fauver scored 4.

The Cats got 9 points from Lauren McCaffrey and 4 from Karlie Williams.