FERRIDAY — The Ferriday High School girls had a comfortable 23-12 lead at halftime against Sterlington High School.

In hindsight, it was perhaps too comfortable.

Sterlington cut Ferriday’s lead to 38-34 at the end of three, then limited the Lady Trojans to just five points in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Panthers came back to win 47-43. Head coach Lisa Abron said she felt like her team played with the wrong mindset in the second half.

“We controlled the tempo early and got the key shots to go in, and had a nice lead (at the half),” Abron said. “I think we got complacent and relaxed, and our intensity went down.

“I think we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. We weren’t going forth with intensity and expecting shots to go in. Things got twisted around fast toward the end, but we’re a young team.”

Sterlington went on a 10-3 run to open the third quarter and ended up outscoring Ferriday 22-15 in that period. After seeing limited touches in the first half, Sterlington’s Milisa Rogers scored six of her 14 points in the third, while LaTasha English added six points in the third.

In the fourth, Ferriday’s only points came courtesy of Sha’Keria Kelly, one on a two-pointer and one on a three-point basket. Her three-pointer tied the game 43-43, but Rogers scored on a field goal with 2:36 left, giving Sterlington the lead for good.

The Lady Panthers’ Simone Williams scored the game’s final basket off a turnover by Ferriday’s Jaz Davis with 1:07 to go.

Three Ferriday players attempted shots in the final 10 seconds of the game, and Trenace Morgan took the final shot with no time left. None of the shots went in.

Abron said she tried stressing to her players that they needed to play to win even as Ferriday’s lead slowly slipped away.

“I told them it was our game, it was at home, let’s do this,” Abron said. “I guess it just didn’t sink. Everyone was looking for someone else to do something, and we should’ve been more selective instead of just throwing shots up.”

The loss overshadowed an excellent night offensively for Kelly, who tallied 22 points for the Lady Trojans.

“She’s been playing well for us the last couple of games,” Abron said. “She’s really started to come around.”

Morgan added 10 points for Ferriday. Rogers led Sterlington in scoring with 14 points, and Doryn Gremillion had 12 points. English finished with eight points.

Ferriday fell to 4-14 on the season, 1-5 in district play.