The Nansemond River High School girls’ basketball team went to Lakeland on Thursday and rode the strong play of its guards to a 63-49 win.

“I thought we played pretty good,” NR head coach Calvin Mason said. “We still have some things to work on, but I thought we played as well as we’ve played in the last month.”

The Lady Warriors got off to a fast start, leading 19-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“The guards did a great job last night controlling the tempo,” Mason said.

Sophomore guard Laura Ortiz led the team with 16 points, and senior point guard Ashante Humphries had 15 points and five assists.

Lady Cavaliers head coach Brandey Blunt noted that what led to her team’s loss was something it consistently struggles with.

“We hurt ourselves, pretty much,” she said. “A lot of games we do it to ourselves by not finishing shots, just not really jump-starting ourselves right away,” she said. “We wait to play. That’s our problem.”

“We’re fighting a battle going uphill, and we run out of time,” she said.

She said she has reminded her team many times that missed layups and free throws in the beginning of a game can come back to haunt it in the end. This was relevant on Thursday as well.

The Lady Cavs got solid offensive output from junior guard Kyiesha Barrett with 14 points and freshman guard D’Jannay Patterson with 10.

Lady Warriors senior forward Sonnae Gibson has been a key player for her team this year, but has been limited in the last few games by a back injury.

“She was still a little stiff last night,” Mason said on Friday.

As a result, he took opportunities to sit her against Lakeland.

Nansemond River (4-12, 3-9) visited Deep Creek on Friday night while Lakeland (2-13, 1-12) hosted Great Bridge.