With the fog of the regular season behind them, West Lauderdale entered its region tournament ranked No. 3 in the region 5-4A standings behind Quitman and pack leader Newton County.

The Knights opened their race for the region crown at home Tuesday where they inched one step closer to Friday’s championship contest with a 55-44 victory over Northeast Jones in their region tournament opener. The win sets up a date with Quitman in the region semifinal at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at West Lauderdale.

West Lauderdale’s (17-9, 7-4) Stone Fielder scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Knights. Fielder opened West Lauderdale’s scoring with a basket early in the first quarter, en route to a 14-point first half. Fielder ran into foul trouble halfway through the second quarter and was pulled to preserve his minutes, but he returned with the starting five in the third quarter and tallied five points in the final period.

“We depend on him for points, and I think the foul trouble, by him having to sit, gave him a chance to finish the game because he was rested from being in foul trouble earlier,” West Lauderdale coach Duran Clark said. 

Ledarius Portis scored 12 points, and Tucker Atkinson finished with 10 points to round out West Lauderdale’s double-digit scorers. 

The Knights led the Tigers 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, and Fielder added six consecutive West Lauderdale points in the second period to push the Knights ahead 22-18 with 4:13 left before halftime. 

Fielder was pulled not long after following a foul, and the Knights went on a nearly three-minute-long scoring drought before Portis put them back on the scoreboard with 1:37 to go in the second quarter. The Knights led 24-22 at halftime.

“Tonight was survive and advance, but we’re going to have to play better against Quitman Thursday,” Clark said. “I think we were pressing a little bit. We wanted to win so badly that I think we tried too hard. I think we’ll settle down and play better Thursday, though.”

The Knights used relentless defense to force four Northeast Jones (4-23, 0-11) turnovers in the third quarter and led by as many as 10 points before a late-quarter surge by the Tigers trimmed West Lauderdale’s lead to 38-35 at the end of the third period. 

“That’s all we work on,” Clark said of his team’s defense. “If we stop the other team from scoring, it’s hard to lose. So we got a few stops and were able to get out in transition.” 

West Lauderdale outscored Northeast Jones 17-9 in the fourth quarter to earn its third win in three tries this year against the Tigers. 

Thursday’s semifinal pits West Lauderdale against a Quitman (8-12, 6-4) team its failed to beat in two tries during the regular season. A fast start to the game, Clark said, will be the key to victory against the Panthers.

“We have to match their intensity,” Clark said. “They’ve beaten us twice by playing harder than us.”

QUITMAN GIRLS 47, WEST LAUDERDALE 41

Tyesha Bland’s 18-point effort propelled Quitman to a 47-41 victory in Tuesday afternoon’s region tournament opener. 

West Lauderdale (11-15, 3-8) led 20-18 at halftime and 30-29 at the end of the third quarter, but Quitman (6-19, 4-7) rattled off 18 points in the fourth quarter to earn the come-from-behind win.

Quitman’s Natalie Pearson scored five points in the final period and ended with nine points. 

West Lauderdale’s Heather Tolon produced a team-high 11 points, and Maggie Wooldridge finished with 10 points. 

Up next: Quitman plays Northeast Jones at 4 p.m. Thursday at West Lauderdale in the regional semifinal.