The Morgan Academy Lady Senators trailed late in the third, but seized the momentum in the fourth on their way to a 51-37 win over the South Choctaw Lady Rebels on Thursday in day one of the Morgan Pepsi Classic.

The Lady Senators (3-8) forced turnovers and scored baskets in transition down the stretch, which helped them capture the win.

Jennifer Moore, head girls basketball coach of Morgan Academy, said her team has been working to score on the break in games.

“We were able to move the ball down the court when we gained possession back on defense,” Moore said. “We’ve been trying to work a fast break into our play the last couple of weeks and we were finally able to incorporate it tonight. And I think they finally caught on and it really worked well. They were actually looking up to see people down the court. That helped us a lot.”

Morgan took a 36-35 lead on a fast-break layup by Lauren Yeldell with 41 seconds left in the third, but South Choctaw took the lead back on a basket in the paint by Logan Dees that made it 37-36 with 23 seconds left in the quarter.

Morgan recaptured the lead to close the fourth when Lauren Yeldell found Lindsey Yeldell open under the basket for an easy layup that put the Lady Senators ahead 38-37 going into the final quarter.

Morgan dominated the fourth, as they outscored South Choctaw 13-0 in the final quarter.

Casey Baggett, Kendall Veach and Haylee Grace Bone each scored baskets in the fourth for Morgan.

Lauren Yeldell led Morgan with 18 points, while Veach had 9 points for the Lady Senators.

Chloe Robinson led the Lady Rebels with 12 points.

In other action on the girls side in day one of the Morgan Pepsi Classic, Coosa Valley defeated Sparta 50-40, while Clarke Prep beat East Memorial 41-27.

Wilcox Academy defeated Southern Academy 65-52.

Girls games for day two of the Morgan Pepsi Classic will resume Friday with Coosa Valley versus Clarke Prep and South Choctaw against Southern Academy with both games starting at 3 p.m.

East Memorial will play Morgan and Wilcox Academy will face Sparta Academy at 6 p.m.