MOSS BLUFF — Merryville surged early in the third quarter, but Florien crashed the boards in the second half to pull away for a 61-38 win Friday night at the Sam Houston Tournament.

Down 35-22 at the break, the Panthers settled down and went on an 8-2 run. Avery Cournoyer started it with a jump shot and Madison Coody added a 3-pointer. Sam Johnson grabbed a rebound on the defensive end and turned it into a three-point play on a fast break to cut the Blackcats’ lead to 37-30 with 5:35 left in the quarter.

“We tried to pick up our defensive intensity and tried to get some stops,” said Merryville head coach Stormy Fortenberry. “We tried to be intentional about getting rebounds because we struggled with that. We were trying to knock down shots.”

Florien (19-1) extended its win streak to 19 as it outrebounded the Panthers 21-7 in the second half. Forward Jay Richardson grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it to LaToyoa Holmes for two points to stop the Panthers’ run. Florien finished the third quarter on a 13-4 run.

Richardson led the Blackcats with a double-double of 18 points and 19 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive end. Holmes had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Marleigh Sparks finished with 19 points.

Merryville (8-6) held an early lead after a Miranda Williams putback. The score was tied 8-8 three minutes into the game, but the Panthers struggled to break the Blackcats’ press, turning the ball over eight times in the backcourt in the first half.

“For whatever reason they pulled out of it (full-court press),” Fortenberry said. “That worked to our advantage. I don’t know why they pulled out of it, but we struggled with it.

“We got ourselves worked up and then we tried to calm them down. We had some moments where we broke it. We know what to do to break the press, but we just struggled and had an off night with it. I know we are capable.”

Cournoyer led Merryville with 18 points, seven steals and four rebounds. Johnson finished with 13 points.

Merryville entered the tournament on a four-game win streak before back-to-back losses to top-10 teams in Florien and South Beauregard.

“We are young. We have no seniors,” Fortenberry said. “I feel like they are giving effort. They hustle and they are defending, but there are some things we need to fix. There are some things we need to fix defensively on the practice court, and offensively, we just have to knock down some shots. We didn’t do that a whole lot tonight.”