Warren Arceneaux

South Lafourche picked up the pace in the second half and pulled away from Washington-Marion Thursday night in a 52-35 Class 4A bi-district playoff game.

The Tarpons (10-9) advanced to play the winner of the No. 4 Warren Easton-No. 29 Istrouma game, to be played Saturday.

South Lafourche never trailed and built a 10-3 first-quarter lead. W-M (13-7) responded with its best stretch in the game, an 11-5 run to get within 15-14 early in the second quarter.

The Tarpons led by four points at halftime and nine after three quarters, then blew the game open late by scoring 10 consecutive points in the fourth quarter.

Madison Ryan led the Tarpons with 18 points, scoring 12 in the second half. Ava Pitre added 12.

“We started playing our ball, pushing the ball up the court, finding mismatches and our shots finally starting falling,” Tarpons head coach Rainie Terrbonne said. “That helped us build a lead in the second quarter, and we were able to keep it going in the second half.

“Early in the game our shots weren’t falling and we let that affect everything else. Once we started making shots, our spirits picked up and we started playing basketball.”

Fantasy Brown led W-M with 12 points. Shantell Guillory added eight. The Charging Indians made 11 of 26 free-throw attempts.

“We had a lot of turnovers, we just weren’t on the same page, we were out of sync tonight,” W-M assistant coach Andrea Williamson said. “They were moving the ball well and we were out of position on defense. They were getting down the court better than us.”

W-M entered having won seven of its last nine games, with the two losses coming as the hands of defending state champion LaGrange.

“We have some young girls that are going to be back. We had two freshmen who were thrown into the fire and they competed well,” Williamson said. “It was a hard year with the hurricanes, the pandemic and everything, but head coach Nikki Mason and the staff were able to get the girls prepared like it was a regular season.”The Charging Indians’ Kourtlyn Lilly, left, and South Lafouche’s Abbi Collins wrestle for control of the ball during the first half of a Class 4A bi-district playoff game Thursday night at Washington Marion High School.

Rick Hickman / American Press