FERRIDAY, La. &045; Now things should get interesting.

Not only did Tensas Academy’s Lady Chiefs put away Glenbrook early to open the Class A South State early, they did it in a fashion that may be paramount to these types of conditions &045; hard defensive play, crashing the boards and 32 minutes of intensity.

The Lady Chiefs’ 65-37 mauling of Glenbrook puts them in the final four in the South that will &045; barring any upsets &045; will include a strong field of Riverdale and Claiborne. They will face the Riverdale-Tallulah winner at 1 p.m. Friday.

&uot;It just depends on how you play,&uot; Tensas head coach Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;I’m happy &045; we’re one of 16 teams left (in Class A) now. I think it’s all the little things &045; are we going to block out well? Are we going to give them one shot? We’re trying to focus on the defensive end. That’s what we’re really trying to do.&uot;

You won’t get an argument from Glenbrook (9-16), who struggled in the first half and went almost an eight-minute span without scoring. The Lady Chiefs (21-6) used both man and zone presses to keep the Lady Apaches from establishing any type of rhythm and getting the ball inside with success.

&uot;We got pumped up fast,&uot; Tensas forward Tabitha Howard said. &uot;Every time they threw the ball in, we jumped on them. I’m excited about that (win). All we’re worried about right now is trying to place high in South State so we can get a higher seeding in state. We really want to play (Claiborne) if we do play them in the championship.&uot;

All it took was some sharp defensive play in both of the half-court and the full-court in the first half to put the game out of reach. The Lady Apaches warmed up at times in the second half and put together scoring runs in the second half, but the deficit was too large to overcome and Tensas answered each with a run of its own.

The Lady Chiefs led 35-12 at halftime and put together an 8-0 run midway through the third for a 51-21 lead on a bucket from Kaitlen Emfinger.

&uot;We’re a little out of shape,&uot; Glenbrook head coach Heath Harville said. &uot;This is my first year ever with the girls, and I found it a little hard to communicate with the girls. I expect to be back next year. Tensas is a quality team with quality girls, and they have a quality coach. I appreciate my girls’ effort, and I appreciate the girls from Tensas. They do the thing necessary in basketball.&uot;

Things went awry for Glenbrook in the second quarter after putting up a solid fight almost the entire first quarter with its zone defense. The Lady Chiefs pulled away at the end to lead 22-10 after one and really jumped on the opposition at the start of the second half with the press and their half-court man.

Glenbrook’s only bucket of the quarter came from Emily Mourad with 5:37 left that cut the deficit to 25-12, but the Lady Apaches didn’t score the rest of half &045; and didn’t get many shots off, either.

&uot;I just think we kind of looked up and it was 8-8 or tied at 10,&uot; Bauerle said. &uot;You’re not going to win or lose the ball game in the first two minutes. We were just sitting back and trading baskets, and we picked it up on the defensive end. We did a lot of good things. We didn’t play a perfect ball game, but we did a good job.&uot;

The Lady Apaches finished the half trailing 35-12 and struggled at the start of the third quarter before finally scoring when Rendi Ward drove the lane for a layup at the 6:12 mark &045; snapping a dry spell of 7:25.

By then Tensas had a 40-14 lead.

&uot;We don’t face much man in our district,&uot; Harville said. &uot;It’s hard for us to adjust to things like that. We work against it in practice, but you never get the full feel of it in practice. It showed tonight.&uot;

The Lady Apaches never abandoned their 2-3 zone, even after the Lady Chiefs canned some 3-pointers and built up a sizeable lead. Megan Bauerle converted a three-point play to finish the first half, and Aubrey McEacharn dropped in a 3-pointer following Ward’s bucket in the third.

Sarah Beth Melville nailed two 3-pointers in the first quarter for a team that’s becoming accustomed to seeing zone defenses from the opposition. Howard and Megan Bauerle led Tensas with 13 each, and McEacharn had 11.

&uot;We did a good job from the free-throw line, and two free throws count for two points, don’t they?&uot; Chuck Bauerle said. &uot;We took it to the hole. I don’t think our outside shots were really falling for the most part, but then we got the ball inside more.&uot;