The Lady Blue Devils of Williston-Elko High and Lady Hawks of Blackville-Hilda High looked pretty evenly matched for three and a half quarters Thursday in Blackville.
However, after eight lead changes and six ties, Williston-Elko High seized control over their region rival.
Ebony Corbitt took over the offense for the Lady Blue Devils, scoring eight of the team’s last 14 points in a 54-44 victory.
Corbitt, who finished with 14 points, was four-of-five from the floor in the final five minutes of play.
“I’m glad I was able to contribute offensively late in the game to help my team win,” Corbitt said.
Also highlighting the Lady Blue Devils offensively was senior center Tierra Richberg. Richberg dominated inside for her seventh double-double of the season.
Richberg finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.
With the win, Williston-Elko High improves  to 10-3 in the standings.
Williston-Elko High prevailed in the game despite its troubles from the charity stripe as the team connected on only 14 of 32 attempts.
Williston-Elko High coach Eva Strong said the team has to focus better in big games.
“We were fortunate tonight  to win after our struggles from the free throw line. We can’t afford to keep missing free throws in close games like this and expect to win,” Strong said.
The Lady Hawks, who were outscored 18-11 in the final quarter, saw their hopes ended when leading scorer Shawanda Ferguson fouled out with 5:05 left to play.
Ferguson had another impressive outing as she led the team with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
The loss drops Blackville-Hilda High to 6-5 in the standings.
Blackville-Hilda High coach William Hammond said the team just ran out of gas.
“We played well through three quarters then things just kind of fell apart,” Hammond said.
“We struggled to score points after our top scorer fouled out late in the game.”
Rounding out the scoring for Blackville-Hilda was Tyesha Clark with eight points. Ansley Pope had five points, seven steals and four assists. Talonda Dicks finished with four points and three steals.  Jasmine Thomas had four points and two assists while Latoya Roundtree added three points and nine rebounds.
For the Lady Blue Devils Shakenya Corbett had her best performance of the season with 10 points, including a three-pointer, six rebounds and four steals. Jalen Reed registered nine points, eight steals and six assists.
 “Except for our free throw shooting, I thought we played pretty well.”