Brookhaven Academy’s boys and girls tuned up for a difficultroad test by overpowering Oak Forest Academy of Amite, La. Tuesdaynight. The Lady Cougars roared to a 62-30 victory and the Cougarscrushed the Yellow Jackets 76-36.

Brookhaven Academy travels to Jackson Academy Thursday night totest the Raiders. On Friday night, they invade Simpson CountyAcademy at Mendenhall.

The Lady Cougars (13-0, 3-0) had no troublewith their District 4-AA opponent. They sprang to a 27-1 lead andled 32-6 after one quarter.

Sophomore guard Emily Langley directed the offensive with 13points. Guards Kelli Byrd and Lauren Smith scored 10 points apiecefor the winners. Center Kristian Davidson snared 5 rebounds.

Byrd oversaw BA’s floor game, handing out 5 assists and making 4steals. Mallory Logan and Davidson had 3 steals apiece.

“Everybody got a lot of minutes (playing time),” said BA girlscoach Barry Gray. “We saved a lot of fuel for Thursday night.

“Our guards shot the ball real well,” Gray pointed out. “JA willbe a tough game for us.”

Oak Forest (5-4, 1-2) got 11 points from Chris Guy. The LadyJackets were down 53-20 starting the fourth quarter.

“Our girls were overmatched,” said Oak Forest coach Jody Fekete.”Brookhaven Academy has a very good team.”

The Cougars (9-1, 3-0), like the girls, aredefending state champions. Their rebuilding campaign is off to animpressive start, their only loss coming to defending Overall StateTournament champion Hillcrest Christian.

Against Oak Forest, senior center Alex Davis directed theCougars with 21 points. Guards Cole Hodges and Jeremy Winbornechipped in 17 and 14 points respectively.

“Our guys are hustling and working hard to get better,” said BAboys coach Dale Watts who lost 7 seniors to graduation. “It’s adifferent game for us this year. We have different rules andguidelines but the same basic game plan.”

Watts anticipates a severe test Thursday night. “JA will be amarker for us. It will let us know where we are in the season.”

The Raiders are 8-1 on the season and beat Jackson Prep 68-58last night. They have a towering front line, featuring a 6-4, a 6-5and a 6-6 starter.

The Cougars raced to a 41-22 halftime lead over Oak Forest.

Oak Forest (0-4, 0-3) has been the dominant football program inDistrict 4-AA. The Jackets won the state title in 2002 and were10-3 this season, losing to eventual state champion Simpson Countyin the second round of the playoffs.

“We haven’t had but six or seven practices,” said Coach Fekete.”We don’t touch a basketball until after the football season iscompleted.”

Fekete coaches defensive backs and wide receivers.

Junior High Results

Brookhaven Academy’s girls whipped Oak Forest 41-15 in thejunior high preliminary game, led by Sydney Moak’s 10 points. HollyCase added 6 points and Casey Smith 5. Kelli Snider and LouAnnAltman each had 4 points. Altman also had 7 rebounds for the LadyCougars (9-1, 4-0).

Four points by Brittany Milton led Oak Forest.

The BA boys blitzed Oak Forest 66-30, powered by T-Boy Lynch’s23 points. Price Sessums added 8 points. Sawyer Wallace, PaxtonKing and Cody Ashley each had 5 points. Kolby Byrd, Cory Bailey andMatt Rushing scored 4 apiece.

Oak Forest got 7 points from Baylor Cutrer.