Brookhaven Academy’s Lady Cougars took one more step towardstheir quest for the MAIS Class AA State Tournament ChampionshipThursday afternoon. They jumped on visiting Simpson Academy earlyand never let up as the 28-3 Lady Cougars cruised to a 61-28win.

Brookhaven, the AA South champion, advances to today’s semifinalround to face Grenada Kirk Academy, the No. 3 seed for the North,at 2:15. Simpson Academy ends its season.

In the other girls semifinals game today, defending state championLeake (40-0) faces Oak Hill at 1 p.m.

Tonight’s boys semifinals, feature West Memphis versus Simpson at 6p.m. and 6-time defending state champion Brookhaven Academy vs.Marshall at 7:15 in John R. Gray Gymnasium.

In yesterday’s other girls game, Kirk Academy’s Raiderettes slippedpast Columbia Academy 34-29. In boys action, Simpson outlastedRiver Oaks, La., earning a 78-63 win. In the final game of thenight, West Memphis, the No. 4 seed from the North, shocked SouthNo. 1 seed Columbia Academy 60-53.

Brookhaven girls used a 21-8 advantage in the first quarter to geta cushion over Simpson before cruising to the easy victory. LauraBeth Wright scored a game-high 13 points and pulled down 7 reboundsto lead Brookhaven. Anna Katelyn Mangold added 12 points with 5rebounds and Mary Lindsey Magee added 12 points in support.

“Our offensive efficiency was really good today.” said BA coachBarry Gray. “We did a really good job of feeding the ball to thepost and our ball movement was good. Our effort was high today butwe have to be ready for a more physical, grind it out kind of gamewith Kirk.”

Lauren Griffin scored a team-high 8 points to lead Simpson. LaurenWelch followed with 5 points.

Kirk 34 Columbia 29

Kelsey Marter, Audra Woods, Carmen Woods, and Emily Lundy eachscored 7 points to lead Kirk into Friday’s semifinal round. AshtonScarborough led Columbia with a game-high 14 points.

Simpson 78 River Oaks 63

Garrett Taylor scored a game-high 22 points to lead Simpson. DevinMillis added 19 points and Josh Hankins added 13 points insupport.

River Oaks got 19 points from Tony Gilley and 17 points fromVincent Moore.

West Memphis 60 Columbia 53

David Robilio scored a game high 40 points to lead the BlackKnights in the upset.

Tanner Pace scored 19 points to lead Columbia. Cole Oglesbeefollowed with 10 points in support for the Cougars.