FRANKLIN -- A little pressure here, a little pressure there, a lot of turnovers and a huge deficit to begin the game were the highlights of the semifinal between Hanson and E.D. White Friday at the Petro Hydraulic Lift Systems Hanson Holiday Shootout.

The visiting Lady Cardinals opened the game with full-court pressure that gave Hanson problems.

After Deynn Depue’s basket tied the score at 2-2, the Lady Tigers turned the ball over, either by throwing it out of bounds or by having the ball stolen, 11 times in the first quarter and E.D. White was only too happy to convert the miscues into points on the other end.

Brittany Landry of Hanson, left, drives against a pair of E.D. White defenders during the semifinals of the Hanson Holiday Classic on Friday. -Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

The end results was that E.D. White (10-4) led 20-4 at the end of the first quarter on the way to a 56-32 win to advance to the finals and played Morgan City, who beat Patterson 44-37, Saturday.

“E.D. White pressed us real well tonight and while our girls responded well late in the game, but by then it was too late,” said HMS coach Patrick Clarkston. “We’re young at our wing positions and experience only comes with time.

“The more games they play the better they are going to get at it.”

Turnovers turned out to be the big problem for Hanson as the Lady Tigers gave up the ball 31 times in the contest.

“That’s been out story the whole year,” said Clarkston, whose team fell to 4-10 overall with the loss. “Somebody applies pressure to us and we turn the ball over more times than we’d like to. We’re working real hard with the girls in practice on that end and hopefully it’s going to get better.”

The other problem for Hanson was E.D. White center Kathryn Stock, who finished with a game-high 30 points and was dominant on both the offensive and defensive ends with 18 rebounds.

But it all started with defense, according to E.D. White coach Darin Fontz.

“We had some success early and it got us the lead,” said Fontz. “After that it was a really physical ball game.

“Both teams played hard. We didn’t play our best game but give Hanson credit, they played very tough and we were able to keep our composure when the game got physical and I’m happy about that.”

The Lady Tigers overcame some of the E.D. White pressure and twice made runs that cut into the lead but each time the Lady Cardinals turned up the pressure a little more and regained a comfortable margin.

“I think in the second quarter we got a little winded,” said Fontz. “They started beating the press and we relaxed a little bit and they made a run on us.

“But we were able to come back in the second half and the pressure again got us some turnovers and again got us a decent margin.”

Michelle Bayha had 11 for E.D. White in the win.

Dacia Collette led Hanson with 14 and Depue added 10. Hanson played Franklin in the third place game Saturday.

Morgan City (12-3) beat Patterson 44-37 in the other semifinal.

Jessicah Johnson led MCHS with 21 points and Sabrina Allen added 13.

Iriane Burks and Daija Hartman scored 10 each for Patterson (12-6).