Brookhaven Academy’s Lady Cougars have some long-term ambitionsbut they prefer taking it one game at a time in John R. GrayGymnasium. They overwhelmed the Benton Academy Lady Red Raiders65-38 Wednesday night in the opening round of the MPSA AA StateTournament, powered by guard Kelli Byrd’s 21 points.

Next comes a Friday semifinals game against Simpson County at2:30. Simpson eliminated Marvell (Ark.) 40-28 yesterday.Presbyterian Christian School of Hattiesburg plays Leake Academy ofMadden at 1 p.m., Friday in the other semifinals game.

Win or lose, all four teams advance to Saturday’s finals, eitherthe consolation at 1 p.m. or the championship at 2:30. All fourfinalists also advance to next week’s Overall Tournament atMississippi College in Clinton.

Guard Angie Davis and center Anna Gatlin, Brookhaven Academy’stwo seniors, are the leaders on Coach Barry Gray’s defending statechampionship squad.

Asked about her team’s chances at repeating as state champions,Davis said, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”

Gatlin agreed. “We were focused tonight and we have to keepplaying hard. We have a great crowd of fans pulling for us.”

A crowd estimated at 1,000-plus witnessed last night’s action.Byrd, a cat-quick sophomore, was scoring from all sides. She had 13points the first half as the Lady Cougars took a 36-17 lead. Byrdalso had 6 steals.

Davis and Byrd often double-teamed Benton’s high-scoring HopeMcMullin. She was limited to 11 points.

“Our guards shot the ball extremely well,” said Coach Gray. “Ourdefense was effective, too.”

Sophomore point guard Lauren Smith followed Byrd with 15 pointsand 7 assists. Mallory Logan, another sophomore sharpshooter,tossed in 13o points. Abby Williams contributed 7 rebounds and 6assists. Gatlin had 5 rebounds.

For the game, Brookhaven made 28 of 64 field goal attempts.

Benton (17-21), the No. 4 team out of the North AA tourney, iscoached by Snuffy Everett. The Raiders got 6 rebounds from BrookeLedbetter.

Leading 15-10 at the quarter, Brookhaven got a layup and ajumper from Byrd to start the second frame. Gatlin scored off anassist from Smith and it was 23-11. Byrd sacked 3 straight fieldgoals and the lead grew to 31-15 with 1:24 left in the firsthalf.

Gray’s girls led 61-32 with 5:38 left to play and he rested hisstarters for the remainder of the game.

Simpson 40, Marvell 28

Thirteen points by Mandy McNulty and 9 by Adriane Lee ledSimpson over Marvell. Nine points by Sara Schaffhouser led Marvellin scoring.