Murray County’s girls basketball team shut down Ridgeland’s offense on Saturday night and, after winning three straight games, the Lady Indians’ confidence should be moving up.

The Lady Indians beat the Lady Panthers 55-29 in the final game of Ridgeland’s Thanksgiving tournament, finishing up a 3-0 run in round-robin play at the event.

In Saturday’s game, the Lady Indians’ half-court, man-to-man scheme limited Ridgeland to two points in the first quarter and four in the fourth.

“The defensive effort was just amazing,” Lady Indians coach Traci Rankin said. “And rebounding was also key. The girls did really well tonight, so I was just very proud of them.”

Brittney Spence led the way with 10 rebounds to go with 13 points in a double-double effort, while Tember Marchant added 12 points and Cayla Brock eight.

Ridgeland’s Shakiyla McLin scored a game-high 16 points.

Murray County (3-1) returns to action along with the boys team on Dec. 9 when they host Woodland-Bartow in the teams’ Region 7-4A opener.

• Ridgeland boys 61, Murray County 54: In another tourney game, Garrick Sanford had 17 points and five assists and Tanner Long 17 points and six rebounds, but the Indians suffered their first loss in four games to start the season.

“We played neck-and-neck throughout the first half and were down five at halftime,” Indians coach Greg Linder said. “We had trouble executing in the third quarter — the big factor was that we were outscored 17-8 in the third quarter, but we fought back to cut it to nine.”

Murray County was never able to overcome the athleticism of the Panthers (2-0).

“We found out we’ve got a lot to work on,” Linder said. “Especially with someone with the size and quickness of Ridgeland, they’re disciplined and athletic and we didn’t attack like we needed to.”

• Paideia boys 63, Dalton 49: The Catamounts dropped their season opener — a fill-in contest in a tournament at Jonesboro’s Mt. Zion High — struggling on offense before finding a bit more rhythm in the second half.

Dalton’s Shaquon Moore led the Cats with 19 points, while Caz Cole added 12 and Kelly Phillips eight, but there were few bright spots.

“I’ll sum the whole thing up,” Dalton coach Mike Duffie said. “We shot 34 percent from the floor, and that includes missing 27 shots in the lane. You tell me how you’re going to beat anybody doing that? And we were also 9-for-17 from the free throw line.”

However, Duffie called the game a good experience because he expects the sizable, athletic lineup Paideia (1-1) featured to be typical of Region 7-4A play this season, which starts for the Cats on Dec. 9 against South Paulding.