FERRIDAY, La. &045; One hurdle down, and one gigantic hurdle remaining.

The Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs took a sizeable step toward good seeding in the Class A state tournament with a 55-39 win over No. 3 Riverdale Friday in the semifinals of the South State tournament. Now it’s on to today’s 2:15 p.m. contest with Claiborne in the championship.

Claiborne beat Tensas in all three meetings this season.

Claiborne drummed Central School, 63-37.

&uot;We’re excited,&uot; Tensas head coach Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;I told the girls that we want to be the No. 1 seed. The only bad thing about the No. 2 seed is you’ll be on the same side of the bracket at Delta Academy. But you won’t face them until the semis. We’re shooting for that No. 1 spot.&uot;

The Lady Chiefs (22-6) set the tone at the start of the game against the Lady Rebels and held on to the lead. At one point in the second half Riverdale (19-8) cut the lead to seven thanks to a big run, but Tensas answered with a run of its own to put the game away.

Tensas led 40-27 at the end of three and outscored Riverdale 15-12 in the fourth.

The first half was a different story as Tensas started out in a matchup press and led 13-7 after one and 26-16 at halftime.

&uot;A lot of times we’d drop back in a half-court man defense and have somebody on their point guard to pressure them down,&uot; Bauerle said. &uot;We played man the whole game. Our defensive effort was outstanding, I thought. We were getting in their face all game long, and I was real pleased with that. It was a little comparative to how we played (Tuesday) night, which is what we want.&uot;

Aubrey McEacharn, Tabitha Howard and Whitney Alford each had 12 points to lead the Lady Chiefs.

Wayne Academy 47, WCCA boys 37

DEKALB &045; The Jaguars ended the Rams’ hopes of making it to the championship game of the Class A South Central State Tournament by taking control of the final three quarters.

Wayne Academy and WCCA were tied at 16-16 at the end of the first quarter, but the Jaguars used an 11-9 advantage in the second quarter for a 27-25 halftime lead. Wayne then outscored WCCA 8-4 in the third quarter and 12-8 in the fourth quarter.

&uot;It was closer than 10 points,&uot; Rams head coach Ray Olive said. &uot;We had to foul them late and they made their free throws. We had them. We had ’em.&uot;

Patton Stanley led Wayne with a game-high 20 points and Jacob Fontenot had 12. Lavalle Johnson led WCCA (15-14) with 15 points and Greg Garner added 13.

WCCA will play Newton County Academy in the consolation game at 6 p.m. today and Wayne Academy will take on Sylva Bay Academy at 7:30 p.m. for the championship.