RUSTON, La. — A 22-0 run that lasted more than five minutes in the first half carried the Louisiana New Tech Lady Lions to a 73-54 win over Tensas and a second straight Class 1A girls basketball championship Thursday to open the LHSAA Top 28 in Ruston.

New Tech guard Dennisha Chambers shot 10 of 10 and scored 23 points in the first half and finished as game MVP with a game-high 31 points. Chambers also recorded 10 rebounds and five assists. Cheynne South scored 19 to pace Tensas.

Tensas found itself in foul trouble early as South and Mary Jones each had three fouls in the first half. With its main defenders on the bench, Tensas was almost powerless to keep Chambers from making big plays with her top-end speed.

“We knew from watching them that (Chambers) likes to go to her right,” Tensas head coach Steve McClatchey said. “She did a great job for them tonight.”

When the Lady Lions began lighting up the nets with a blistering shooting spree, McClatchey had to call several timeouts to regroup the Lady Panthers (32-2) who had seldom been put in such a dire situation.

“Some of our girls got frustrated,” McClatchey said. “We laid down and quit a little bit in the first half.”

Down 45-18 at halftime, the Lady Panthers made a run, but were only able to get as close as 67-49 in the fourth quarter with New Tech (26-4) leading by as much as 27 points in the third quarter.

The Lady Lions abandoned their normally lethal three-point shots to drive inside and make their living under the basket. Louisiana New Tech outscored Tensas 54-24 in the paint Thursday.

“It was just a super effort by our girls,” Louisiana New Tech head coach Sheila Bryant Dupree said. “We knew (Tensas) would bring a lot of pressure defense and we would have to use penetration offense. We could not rely on our outside shooting.”

Chambers said the team knew Tensas would be focused and ready because of losing last year in the Top 28 semifinals to the Lady Lions.

“We knew we had to work twice as hard,” Chambers said. “I was just focused and came out to play hard.”