FERRIDAY &8212; Newellton head coach Sandra Carradine expects her young team to take its lumps early in the season.

Thursday night, Block was the team putting the lumps on them. The Lady Bears pressed, trapped and fast-breaked their way to a 89-47 win over Newellton in the opening game of the Ferriday tournament for both teams.

&8220;I&8217;m young this year. I lost four seniors from last year,&8221; Sandra Carradine said. &8220;I guess it&8217;s my turn now. These are junior high kids except for three of them.&8221;

Newellton (2-5) was knocked out of the tournament with the loss. Block (7-4) will face Vidalia at 4 p.m. today.

Newellton&8217;s Sharree Jarvis gave her team its only lead of the game with her putback layup 18 seconds into the game. Block jumped out to a comfortable lead after that, forcing frequent turnovers and converting on the offense end to get a 22-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

&8220;We played some good man-to-man defense the first 12 or 13 minutes of the game,&8221; Block head coach Carl Gilmore said. &8220;We kept them at bay and built up a big cushion for the rest of the game.&8221;

Block also played some of its best offense of the young season, Gilmore said, including hitting five three-pointers.

&8220;We did what I wanted to do on offense,&8221; Gilmore said. &8220;We made sure we got good shots. We had a good inside game and some outside game. That&8217;s the first time this year we&8217;ve hit more than one or two treys.&8221;

That offense helped Block build a 47-21 halftime lead, all but ending the game. Block&8217;s stifling defense appeared to wear down the Newellton players.

But Newellton seemed to come out of halftime with a renewed vigor. The team hit four three-pointers &8212; Newellton had eight total in the game &8212; in the period, in matching Block&8217;s 19 points in the period. It was the only quarter in which Newellton was not outscored.

&8220;They have a young team so they&8217;re only going to get better,&8221; Gilmore said. &8220;But I told my team not to get too relaxed. I know they can hit that three and they finally started to.&8221;

Carradine said her team has to rely on the outside shot at this point because that&8217;s what her girls do best.

&8220;I&8217;m trying to win the ballgame, so we do what they can do,&8221; Carradine said. &8220;I tell them to do what they&8217;re good at and right now that&8217;s getting outside shots.&8221;

Block took care of business in the opening minutes of the final quarter, expanding what was a 26-point lead to 43 with a 15-0 run. Phyllica Woods had three baskets during the run as Block&8217;s post players dominated the smaller Newellton team.

&8220;We don&8217;t have the inside game because I don&8217;t have the height,&8221; Carradine said. &8220;My girls just don&8217;t have the mature bodies and the strength they need to compete inside. Some of the girls I have are 13 and they&8217;re going against girls that are 18.&8221;