WESTLAKE — The Lacassine Lady Cardinals jumped on the St. Louis Lady Saints early and held on for a 47-33 win to advance to the championship game of the Iberia Bank Westlake Tournament.

Lacassine (11-0) will now face the winner of the Hackberry-Sulphur game in the finals set for 6:30 p.m. today.

The Lady Saints took a 5-2 lead on St. Louis with 5:58 to play in the first quarter. The Lady Cardinals defense then took control through the remainder of the first quarter by going on a 17-0 run to end the quarter.

Lindsey Priola scored seven of the Lady Cardinals points during the run to take a 19-5 first quarter lead.

“We started off fast again like we did against DeRidder this morning and put them in a hole,” said Lacassine Coach Jeremy Hollier. “At the pace we play at, if we put people in a hole we feel pretty good about it with our defense and pushing the ball into transition. The girls did a good job of getting us that lead and maintaining it the rest of the game as we were getting tired toward the end.”

St. Louis rallied back in the second quarter as it opened up the quarter on a 7-0 run behind three points from Madeline McClain to trail 19-12. Lacassine answered back with a 6-2 run with all the points coming from Madyson Brasseaux to take a 25-14 lead.

St. Louis outscored Lacassine 13-8 in the second quarter but trailed 27-18 at the half.

The Lady Cardinals opened up the third quarter with a 10-4 run behind eight points from Haley Cooley to take a 37-22 lead with 2:35 remaining.

The Lady Saints closed out the quarter on a 6-2 run, but the Lady Cardinals held on for a 39-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Both teams struggled to get points on the board in the fourth quarter. Lacassine outscored St. Louis 8-5 in the quarter to seal the victory.

“Against a good team like Lacassine you can’t turn the ball over,” said St. Louis Coach Tony Johnson. “We had 18 turnovers in the first half and 12 in the second half and we missed 11 free throws. We were able to stay close in the game and I feel fortunate as my kids played hard throughout the game and never gave up.”

Brasseaux led the Lady Cardinals in scoring with 13 points. Cooley added 10 points.

The Lady Saints were led in scoring by Frances Thompson and Da’Sha Pitre who each finished with 10 points.

Lacassine’s Madyson Brasseaux