The host Brookhaven Academy Cougars and Lady Cougars capturedthe District 4-AA Tournament championships Saturday night in JohnR. Gray Gymnasium. Both teams advance to the South State AAtournament this week at Columbia Academy.

Powered by senior forward Corey Dickerson’s game-high 30 points,Brookhaven handed Columbia a 75-56 loss in a battle of the Cougars.Dickerson also led off the backboards with 7 rebounds and had 6assists.

The Brookhaven girls rallied in the second half to dump Columbia64-58, sparked by senior guard Betsy Lynch’s 23 points, 4 stealsand 4 assists.

The Brookhaven teams will play either Wednesday or Thursday. TheSouth State AA bracket will be drawn up today.

In the boys seeds out of District 4-AA , Brookhaven is No. 1followed by Columbia at No. 2, Simpson No. 3 and Copiah No. 4. Thegirls seeds are Brookhaven at No. 1, followed by Columbia, Copiahand Simpson.

Brookhaven 75, Columbia 56

The Brookhaven boys, coached by Dale Watts, improved to 22-6 onthe season.

“Corey Dickerson played a great game and showed a lot ofleadership,” said Brookhaven Academy boys coach Dale Watts. “We aregoing to need him to step up the rest of the way. We started offkind of sluggish tonight, but got in a groove and played better inthe second half.”

Brookhaven led Columbia by 1 point, 28-27, at halftime.

Contributing to the Brookhaven win with 15 points was JoshWinborne. Following with 10 points was Blaine Roberts. DanielLofton added 4 assists.

Columbia Academy head boys coach Reed McKay talked aboutBrookhaven Academy. “Brookhaven has got better and better everytime we play them. They are peeking at the right time. They aregoing to be very tough to beat.”

For Columbia, Colby Williamson and Tyler Wilks led the way with11 points apiece.

Brookhaven 64, Columbia 58

In girls action, Coach Barry Gray’s Brookhaven Academy girlsovercame a 7-point, 31-24, deficit at the half.

The Brookhaven Academy girls improved to 27-3 on the season,their 11th district title under Gray in the last 12 years.

“Besty had a great game for the second night in a row,”‘ praisedGray. “I’m extremely proud of our girls for the way they played inthe second half after being down by eight points. They showed a lotof composure to come from behind and beat a good team.

Adding support in the Brookhaven win with 10 points was forwardKelli Snider. On the backboards, Snider, Kellie Brady and NicoleSmith followed with 4 rebounds apiece.

Columbia was led by Sarah Joiner with a game-high 32 points.Ashton Scarborough fired in 12 points.

Copiah 51, Simpson 42

In consolation action, the Copiah Lady Colonels were led byMadelone Cline with 17 points. Emily Fuaner netted 11 points.

Simpson got 17 points from Kati Winningham.

Simpson 74, Copiah 64

The Simpson boys rallied from a 55-50 deficit going into thefourth quarter to secure the consolation win. Leading Simpson with23 points was Jordan Ainsworth. Mitchell Smith netted 15 points.Scoring 13 points each were Corey Williamson and Ryan Kennedy.

The Colonels were sparked by Hunter Greer with 24 points. ScottyReese and Reese Hankins finished with 12 points apiece. Followingwith 11 points was Clay Price.