West Lauderdale High School’s Aliyah Moore takes a shot against Quitman High School’s Natalie Pearson Tuesday night.

COLLINSVILLE — Quitman High School had no answer for a dominant performance by West Lauderdale High School’s Mallory Thompson.

The senior Lady Knight outscored the entire Quitman roster by putting up 29 points for West Lauderdale, which topped the Lady Panthers 58-27 to open Region 5-4A play. Thompson helped put the game away in the fourth quarter by scoring eight points in what was a 20-point frame for West Lauderdale, whereas Quitman managed just a single point in the final period.

“With her, it’s the same every night,” West Lauderdale head coach Matt Lum said. “You know what you’re going to get: She’s going to play her tail off, she’s going to play smart, she’s going to get her teammates involved, she’s going to get herself going… I could say that about her every single time.”

Thompson’s performance also left an impression on first-year Quitman head coach Lakia Westerfield, who complimented Thompson on her “will to win.”

“She’s just relentless, and we were not,” Westerfield said. “That’s about it.”

West Lauderdale opened the game with an 11-point first quarter, with Thompson tallying seven of those points. Quitman was unable to score until the 3:06 mark in the first, but Dyneshia House was able to hit three treys, one of which came with two seconds remaining, to keep pace with West Lauderdale, making it 11-9 after one.

At first, Quitman remained within striking distance in the second quarter, matching West Lauderdale’s five points in the first five minutes of the frame, but the Lady Knights were then able to string off a 12-2 run in the final three minutes to jump ahead 28-16 at intermission.

Both teams scored 10 points in the third quarter, giving West Lauderdale a 38-26 lead going into the final frame. In the fourth quarter, West Lauderdale’s defense came on strong, with Quitman’s lone point coming off a free throw by LanKerria McCoy.

“I think our defensive intensity kind of wore them down,” Lum said. “We went to a little lull right there in the third quarter (offensively), but our defensive intensity stayed up, and we got ourselves in the right positions and made plays.”

Maggie Wooldridge finished with 14 points for West Lauderdale, while Dashea Hunt chipped in with eight points for the Lady Knights. House was Quitman’s leading scorer with 17 points, and Ja’Miya Moore tallied seven points for the Lady Panthers.

“We just have to play hard from buzzer to buzzer,” Westerfield said. “We had too many turnovers, we didn’t hustle back well on defense, and we missed a lot of easy shots. We just have to keep getting better.”

WEST LAUDERDALE 75, QUITMAN BOYS 53

Stone Fielder scored 30 points to lead the West Lauderdale boys to a win in their Region 5-4A opener against Quitman.

The Panthers’ Darcy McCrey finished with 18 points.

West Lauderdale will travel to Newton County High School Friday, while Quitman will host Northeast Lauderdale High School Friday.