MANGHAM, La. — The Ferriday Lady Trojans overcame a rough start and an off-night at the free-throw line to defeat the Lake Providence Lady Panthers 43-40 Monday night to win the District 2-2A championship.

The game was played at Mangham High School after Lake Providence defeated Jonesboro-Hodge last Friday night to put the Lady Tigers at third place in district play. All three teams finished at 6-2 in the district, setting up the three-way battle for first, second and third places.

“We get a whole point for finishing in first place and that will push up a little higher in the power rankings,” Ferriday head coach Lisa Abron said. “That extra game we played Friday night (at Delhi) will help us.”

Ferriday kept rushing shots in the first quarter and ended up scoring just five points and trailed by five points at the end of the quarter. But the Lady Trojans settled down in the second quarter and by halftime had taken a 19-15 lead.

“It was a very defensive minded game between both teams. I knew it was going to be a close game,” Abron said. “They had us on the size. We had to settle down and do the things we do like spread the offense some more and take good shots. I think we did a better job of that in the second half.”

Despite those adjustments, it appeared that Lake Providence was going to be on its way to claiming the district title after outscoring Ferriday 18-9 in the third quarter to take a 33-28 lead.

But Ferriday turned to its defense in the fourth quarter, forcing Lake Providence’s post players out of the perimeter and have one-and-done possessions. And that helped the Lady Trojans to outscore the Lady Panthers 15-7 for the thrilling come-from-behind win and the district championship.

“I’m so proud of the players, especially with all the injuries and illnesses,” Abron said. “Jasmine Butler did a good job of boxing out. Jasmine Upchurch did a good job of maintaining No. 50 (Bianca McGowan). The last time we played them, she scored nearly 30 points on us. We didn’t give them any second- and third-chance shots.”

Jalessia Davis was at the game, but her season is done after finding out that she has torn ligaments in her left ankle and will be out for three months.

Upchurch led Ferriday (28-5) with 12 points, followed by Butler with 11 points and Chante Poole with nine points. The Lady Trojans will find out this morning who they will be playing in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.

McGowan led Lake Providence (11-14) with a game-high 15 points. Tiffany Willis scored 13 points and Larrimi Williams had 11 points.