The Piney Woods Tornadoes meet the Hinds AHS Bulldogs tonight atLoyd Star for the girls and boys Division 6-2A Tournament titles.The girls title game begins at 7 p.m. followed by the boyschampionship matchup at 8:30.

In Thursday semifinals action, the Piney Woods boys knocked offthe Wesson Cobras 82-57 and the Hinds girls clipped Loyd Star48-40. In other games, the Hinds AHS boys smashed McLaurin 81-41and the Piney Woods girls clipped St. Andrew’s 45-32.

Today’s consolation games feature the Loyd Star girls battling St.Andrew’s at 4 and the Wesson boys squares off against McLaurin at5:30.

All four teams advance to the next round of the state playoffs. Thegirls play Monday and the boys Tuesday.

Hinds AHS 48, Loyd Star 40

The Loyd Star and Hinds girls struggledin the first quarter as the Lady Bulldogs pressed the Lady Hornets.Hinds held onto a slim 12-11 lead at the end of the firstquarter.

In the second quarter, the Lady Hornets outscored the Lady Bulldogs12-6 to take a 23-18 lead at the half.

“The game was a lot closer than the score indicated,” said LoydStar girls coach Lori Britt after the game. “We are a young team,and we handled their press real well.” Britt added that two of herstarters last night were eighth graders, Shannon Chester and HaleySones.

The Lady Hornets (15-11) led the Lady Bulldogs in the third quarteruntil the 3:40 mark when Sondra Moncure hit a jumper to put HindsAHS ahead 29-27. The visitors would not relinquish the lead theremainder of the game. The hosts cut the deficit to one pointseveral times but could not retake the lead.

Going into the final frame, Hinds AHS led Loyd Star 34-31. In thefinal 1:39 of the game, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the LadyHornets 7-2 to preserve the win.

Powering the Loyd Star girls with 10 points and 8 rebounds wasShara Johnson. Hailey Ratcliff netted 8 points, grabbed 6 rebounds,made 2 steal and had 4 assists. Sones and Porsha Jones collected 4rebounds apiece.

Hinds AHS, coached by Keith Williams, got 17 points from JessicaThomas. Sondra Moncure fired in 11 points.

Piney Woods 82, Wesson 57

The Wesson boys (19-10) battled PineyWoods tough in the first quarter, trailing by one point, 10-9. Inthe second quarter, the Tornadoes made some steals and quickbuckets to take a 31-22 lead at the half.

Third quarter action saw Piney Woods continue to run its press andtake advantage of turnovers to push its lead to 22 points, 58-36,going into the final frame.

“We played with them in the first half,” said Wesson boys coach RonKessler. “As a coach in the 2A, I’m going to battle for us to havea fair playing field. When you only draw players from a third ofCopiah County and have to compete against a national andinternational team like Piney Woods, you have no chance.”

Collin King directed Wesson with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2steals. Mason Warren scored 10 points and made 2 steals. BlakePickett grabbed 6 rebounds.

Pacing Piney Woods with a game-high 27 points was Abdullah Boune.Dean Hadley followed with 12 points. Coaching the Tornados is WayneBrent.

Hinds AHS 81, McLaurin 41

In boys action, O’Shad Lofton led HindsAHS with 21 points. Antonio Richardson followed with 12 points.

McLaurin got 11 points from Jamille Ervin and 10 from CliftonQuick.

Piney Woods 45, St. Andrew’s 32

The Piney Woods girls got 15 points fromAyesha Johnson and 12 from Latoya Crook 12.

Pacing St. Andrew’s with 13 points was LaReina Adams. Maeve Wilsonfinished with 7.