GREENVILLE — Washington got opportunities at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter of a close game against South Central. The Lady Pack made 11-of-16 tries at the charity stripe to pull away for a 48-40 win in its final game of the Parker’s BBQ Girls’ Basketball Tournament.

The Lady Pack had a 35-30 lead entering the final quarter, but the Lady Falcons managed to whittle it down to two when Arielle McMillan and Anna Mewborn went 3-of-4 on two trips to the foul line.

Washington pulled away shortly thereafter. It outscored South Central 10-3. With the exception of a Daria Jones layup that was set up by Tierra Wiggins, all of those points came at the free-throw line.

“That’s good when the other team is pressured that they have to get steals and stops. It makes it better,” Washington coach Ralph Biggs said. “We made our free throws and that pushed the game out for us.”

The Lady Pack stormed out of the gate to take an 11-2 lead by the end of the first. After South Central got on the board, Cierra Wiggins, Daria Jones and Trazyia Windley all made shots to fuel an 8-0 spurt to end the period.

The Lady Falcons came out firing in the second. They got baskets from Brittany Gibbs and Twanasja Hill and a pair of free throws to cut the deficit down to one, 11-10.

Nazayah Parker finally got Washington on the board around three minutes into the second, but South Central was able to take the lead at the 4:27 mark. With just under two minutes left in the half, Washington got back-to-back layups to regain the lead, but went into the locker room down by one, 21-20.

“They made adjustments to the way we were playing,” Biggs said. “Then we didn’t make adjustments to the way they adjusted. In the fourth quarter, we found our way and came out with the win.”

Washington built an 8-point lead coming out of the halftime break. Tierra Wiggins and Parker got back-to-back 3-point plays to give the Lady Pack a 29-21 lead. Wiggins hit shot from behind the arc and Parker turned a steal into an and-1 layup.

South Central came as close as four in the third period, but Washington was able to maintain control of the game.

With a 2-1 showing in the tournament, Washington goes into the Christmas break owning an 11-2 record. A win over a 4-A team in South Central gives the girls a whole lot of momentum as they now set their sights on their Jan. 3 2-A Eastern Plains Conference opener against Southwest Edgecombe.

“It’s always good to finish with two wins in a tournament going into break,” Biggs said. “… I feel good, for the most part, about where we are. We just have to make the next step to be a championship team.”