HAYNESVILLE, La. — The Trinity girls rode a strong defensive showing to come out on top Friday in the semifinals of the MAIS Class A South State tournament.

Trinity defeated Claiborne Academy 33-27, and will play Riverdale today at 2:15 p.m. for the championship.

Lady Saints head coach Richy Spears said the defensive game plan focused on stopping two specific players for Claiborne.

“I told them they had two girls (Chaise and Kameron Simpson) that, if we held them to 15 points or less combined, we could win,” Spears said.

“They had 18 altogether, so it was good enough. They knew what they had to do and who they had to stop, and they did. Our defense definitely won the game.”

Spears said the intensity of his girls is what allowed them to have such a good showing Friday.

“We pretty much stress that all the time,” Spears said. “We’re going to be intense, and we went out there and played intense.”

He also said he was pleased with how some of his other players stepped up on defense when starter Madelyn Cross got into foul trouble.

“She got four fouls about two minutes into the third quarter, and sat for the remaining six minutes (of that quarter),” Spears said.

“We were up by 10 when she went out, and were still up by nine when she came back in to start the fourth, so we had some other girls step up. We got some big turnovers when we needed them and played hard the whole time.”

Individually, Spears singled out Rosie Woods as someone who played well guarding her opponent.

“She guarded one of their better players man-to-man, and did a good job. She also guarded the 3-pointer well.”

Trinity led 22-12 at the half and 26-17 after three. Brandis White led the Lady Saints in scoring with 14 points, and Bethany Ogden finished with 10 points.

“Brandis was getting good penetration,” Spears said. “She was just beating people up inside, and had a couple of big steals and big layups. I don’ think she hit a three at all, she was just beating the girl off the dribble and getting into the lane. She’s had trouble finishing shots on layups lately, but she was able to correct that today.”

As for Ogden, Spears complemented her on her outside shooting.

“She had a big three for us at the end of the first quarter, and another big three for us later in the game,” Spears said. “She hit a couple of more shots from about 12 feet out. They were trying to keep us from getting into the lane, but we were able to hit a couple of outside shots that were big.”

Trinity boys 64, Riverfield 57

The Trinity Saints got 21 points from R.J. Fleming in defeating Riverfield in the semifinals Friday.

Trinity led just 16-15 after one quarter but outscored Riverfield 18-8 in the second quarter to pull away.

Riverfield tried to get back in the game in the second half, at one point closing to within two points, but Trinity pulled away in the fourth quarter to hang on to the seven-point win.

Givonni Dent had 13 and Jake Winston added nine for the Saints as they improved to 20-7.

Riverfield was led by Taylor Long with 20 points, Kyle King with 11 and Patrick Johnson with 10.

Trinity will play either Claiborne or Riverdale for the South State championship at 7:15 p.m. today.