DEXTER – The Wesson Lady Cobras captured a 77-68 victory over the Varnado Lady Wildcats in high school basketball action Tuesday night in Dexter’s Holiday Tournament.

In the boys contest, the Wesson Cobras suffered a tough 77-74 loss to the Varnado Wildcats.

Wesson will resume action Friday as they travel back to Dexter to battle the Purvis Tornadoes in Dexter’s Holiday Tournament. The girls are schedule to tip off at 4 p.m., followed by the boys.

Wesson 77, Varnado 68 

The Lady Cobras battle the Lady Wildcats in a close contest Tuesday afternoon as the Wesson managed to gain control of the first quarter and lead 23-17.

In the second quarter, Wesson relied on their tough defense wit wear down the Lady Wildcats and extend their margin with a 18-16 run to lead 41-33 at halftime.

In the second half, both teams continued their defensive battle, but Wesson managed to stay in charge by out scoring Varnado 36-35 in the final two frames to collect the win.

“The girls really played well offensively,” said Wesson coach Rusty Newman. “We had 6 players score double figures and played well as a team, hopefully we can keep this up and carry it over into our district schedule.”

Jashia Smith powered the Lady Cobras attack with 17 points and led six players scoring in double figures. Kayla Britt chipped in with 14 points. Alayshia Vaughn provided 13 points. Carnesha Green contributed 12 points. Tashay Glasper scored 11 points and Aurianna Vaughn added 10 points.

Varnado 77, Wesson 74 

The Wildcats and Cobras provided a exciting offensive show Tuesday night as both team came out firing on all cylinders.

Varnado manage to captured the lead in the first quarter at 21-14 and increase their hold in the second quarter to take a 35-29 lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Cobras came out aggressive and put together a 21-17 run to cut down Varnado’s lead to 52-50 before heading into the final frame.

In the final quarter of action, the Wildcats and Cobras offenses caught fire and provided an exciting offensive show in a back and forth contest for their fans. The Wildcats managed to escape the fourth quarter firework 25-24 to claim the win.

Anthony Jones and Dartavious Dixon directed the Cobras’ offensive surge with 21 points each. Farrod Green provided 13 points.

“We didn’t play well as team at all tonight,” said Newman. ” Offensively, we were selfish at times and never really ran our offense and defensively we allowed too many open shot.

“This needs to be a learning experience for us as we gear for district play,” continued Newman. “Their point guard was good and made us pay for playing poor defense. As bad as we played the guys still fought hard and put themselves in a position to win but we missed too many free throws and lay ups to win the game.