VIDALIA — It took about a quarter for the Ferriday Lady Trojans to shake off a case of the nerves against their rivals and start playing basketball the way they are capable of playing.

But once they did, they put the game away quickly.

Ferriday outscored the Vidalia Lady Vikings 54-16 over the final three quarters to take a 66-26 victory on the first day of the Ronnie Brown Memorial Basketball Tournament at Vidalia High School.

“We were a little antsy at the start of the game coming over here and playing our rivals,” Ferriday coach Lisa Abron said. “But after we calmed down, we started to pull away.”

Ferriday led just 12-10 after one quarter, but gave a sign of things to come by outscoring Vidalia 19-7 in the second quarter.

Abron said the key to Ferriday pulling away was the defensive pressure that forced numerous Vidalia turnovers.

“We wanted to execute the press right off the bat, but we didn’t do a good job of it early,” Abron said. “We weren’t moving our feet and cutting off the passing lanes. When we did finally get into our press good, we started to force some turnovers.

Ferriday was also without point guard Chante Poole, who missed her second straight game. Abron said her absence allowed her to get some other players some experience.

“It was a good opportunity for some other girls to step up,” Abron said. “Chante will be back for Saturday’s game.”

Ferriday was led by Jasmine Butler with 21 points and T’Keyah Fletcher with 20. Deonka Burdon also scored in double figures with 10.

Gabby Wagoner led Vidalia with 10 points while Elizabeth Cupit chipped in with eight.

“We played sloppy, but we got a win,” Abron said. “We’ll take it.”

Vidalia’s girls will play Tensas High at 6 p.m. today on the second day of the tournament, while Ferriday’s girls don’t play again until 6 p.m. Saturday, when they will also face Tensas High.

Tensas High 75, Ferriday boys 69

The Trojans rode a strong second half but failed to get over the hump as they fell to Tensas Thursday.

Ferriday scored 24 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth, but Tensas came out on top after a strong performance by Roderick Jones, who scored 24 points.

Michael Jones added 15 points for Tensas. Daniel Jackson and Chris Smith each tallied 10 points.

Ferriday way led in scoring by Ted’Rai Gullege, who scored 20 points. Gary Willis had 11 points and Charles Chandler finished with 10 points.