FERRIDAY — The way the Ferriday Lady Trojans dominated Sterlington in the first half, it was hard for anyone to imagine that the Lady Panthers would be able to make a game of it in the second half.

But that’s exactly what they did, cutting a 24-point deficit to 10 points midway through the fourth quarter before Ferriday recovered and closed out a 49-34 victory in the District 2-2A opener for both teams.

“It was too close for comfort there at the end,” Ferriday coach Lisa Abron said. “We got comfortable with the lead and stopped taking care of business.”

It looked like Ferriday would romp to an easy victory in the first half, as they held Sterlington to just eight first-half points and had a 25-8 lead at halftime.

The Lady Trojans then scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take their biggest lead at 32-8 less than a minute into the second half.

However, Sterlington recovered to score the next seven points and closed to within 34-17 at the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Panthers continued their charge in the fourth quarter, as they went on a 12-5 run to cut the Ferriday lead to 39-29 with 3:45 remaining.

However, Chante Poole hit a jumper with three minutes remaining to stem the tide, and Ferriday scored the next six points to reclaim the momentum and take the victory.

Abron said Sterlington did a good job of double-teaming point guard Poole, which disrupted the Ferriday offense at times.

“That got us a little nervous,” Abron said. “Our other guards are going to have to step up. But I’m glad we saw that tonight so we can be prepared next time a team does that.”

Poole led Ferriday with 13 points while Jasmine Butler, Raven Lewis and T’Keyah Fletcher all had nine points for the Lady Trojans.

LeKeliah Pounds scored 15 points for Sterlington while Simone Williams chipped in with 10 points for the Lady Panthers.

Ferriday improved to 12-7 overall and 1-0 in district play with the win.

“I’m glad we got our first district win out of the way,” Abron said. “We’ve got a tough game at Lake Providence next and it’s always tough to play there.”

Sterlington boys 57, Ferriday 54

A tough season for Ferriday got even tougher on Tuesday, as the Trojans blew an eight-point halftime lead in a three-point loss to Sterlington in their district opener.

Ferriday outscored Sterlington 23-16 in the second quarter and took a 33-25 lead into halftime.

However, Ferriday’s offense went in the tank in the third quarter, as the Trojans could only muster six points, allowing Sterlington to close to within a basket at the end of the quarter.

Sterlington then outscored Ferriday 20-15 in the final period to take the comeback victory.

Richard Jefferson led Ferriday with 13 points while Ted’rae Gullege scored 12 and Brandon Thompson chipped in with 10.

Sterlington was led by Matt Aured with 23 points and Kalen Gocospsy with 12.