BOGUE CHITTO – The Bogue Chitto Lady Cats had a successful turn around Monday night; after falling to the Hinds AHS Lady Bulldogs Saturday, the Lady Cats thumped the Dexter Lady Bulldogs 74-59 in the opening round of the MSHAA South-State 1A Playoffs.

The Lady Cats (25-7) will march into South-State Thursday as they travel to Noxapater to battle the Noxapater Lady Tigers at 4 p.m.

Bogue Chitto 74, Dexter 59 

The Lady Cats came out strong and quickly set the tone of their contest as they blasted the Lady Bulldogs for a 19-6 first quarter lead.

In the second quarter, BC and Dexter provided an offensive scoring fest for their basketball fans as both teams scored 22-points apiece as the Lady Cats carried a 41-28 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Cats continued to battle back and forth in a very physical contest as BC managed to stay in control and maintain a 57-40 lead after three quarters of action.

In the fourth quarter, Dexter finally managed to break through BC’s tough defense and outscored the Lady Cats 19-17, but failed to overcome Bogue Chitto’s large lead.

Sophomore guard Zariah Matthews pumped in a game-high 25 points to lead the Lady Cats. Christian Black chipped in 17 points and was the leader on the boards with 5 rebounds. Karlie Williams added 12 points.

“The girls came out and played hard in a very physical game,” said BC coach Christi Terrell. “We did a great job stepping up throughout the game and hitting our shots. Overall, I was very pleased with my girls efforts. We did the things we needed to do to get the win.”

The Lady Bulldogs had thee players to score in double figures as Tamyra Harvey powered Dexter with 15 points. Alexious Miller netted 13 points and Kelronisha Jefferson had 12 points.