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FERRIDAY — After a lackluster second quarter by Delta Charter School’s varsity girls’ basketball team allowed Logansport High School to get back in the game, Lady Storm head coach Ronald Ellis wanted to see more effort, energy and defense from his team.

Whatever Ellis said to his players at halftime apparently worked in the second half as the No. 14 seed Delta Charter Lady Storm pulled away for a 52-37 win over the No. 19 seed Logansport Lady Tigers last Thursday night in the Bi-district Round of the 2022 LHSAA Class 1A Playoffs.

Logansport outscored Delta Charter 18-9 in the second quarter to make it a 20-20 game at the half. Ellis said his team got “too relaxed” thinking it was going to be an easy win for the Lady Storm after jumping to an 11-2 lead after one quarter of play.

“It wasn’t so much them. It was more of us. They didn’t so much effectively,” Ellis said. “It looked like they ran out of energy. They thought the other team was going to give up, but they didn’t. I got on to them and my assistant coach (Geary Crawford) got on to them at halftime.”

As for how the Lady Storm got off to such a good start compared to what happened to them in the second quarter, Ellis said, “They came out fired up. We jumped on them early. Then the fire went out and they had to light it back up (in the second half).”

Even though Delta Charter got back its energy and effort in the third quarter, Logansport wasn’t going to go away quietly. The Lady Storm only outscored the Lady Tigers by one point, 13-12, for a 33-32 lead by quarter’s end.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Lady Storm got back to playing defense the way they did in the first quarter. Led by Chyann Lee and Roniya Ellis, they put up 19 points while holding Logansport to just five points.

“They showed some poise and the willing to want to win after letting them come back and tie it at halftime. Especially in the fourth quarter,” coach Ellis said. “Chyann and Roniya really stepped up. Chyann’s defense was key. She got a lot of steals and deflections at key points that turned the game around. She had a lot of energy last night.”

Lee led Delta Charter with 20 points while Roniya Ellis finished with 19 points.

While Jaden Boydstun didn’t score too many points, Ellis said she stepped up in other ways to help lead the Lady Storm to victory.

“Her rebounding and smart passing were really big,” Ellis said.

The Lady Storm improved to 15-13 overall and will travel to White Castle, La. to take on the No. 3 seed and District 7-1A champion White Castle Lady Bulldogs (12-12) in the Regional Round at 6 p.m. Monday.