The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ basketball team made sure on Friday that it will get another shot at a state title.

“It’s really cool,” Lady Saints senior point guard Harper Birdsong said. “I definitely want to finish it this year, because we fell short last year.”

NSA made school history last year with its inaugural appearance in the state championship game, but the team lost in lopsided fashion to The Miller School of Albemarle.

On Friday, Nansemond-Suffolk set up the rematch with the Lady Mavericks by defeating Norfolk Christian School 57-32 in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II state semifinals at Richard Bland College in Petersburg.

It was the fourth time the Lady Saints had faced the Lady Ambassadors this season, but No. 1 NSA made sure it would be improving to 4-0 in that series and set a dominant tone early.

Junior forward Kelly Hogan, senior center Caroline Hogg and Birdsong combined to give Nansemond-Suffolk a 7-0 lead just over two minutes into the game, prompting No. 4 Norfolk Christian to take an early timeout.

The Nansemond-Suffolk advantage grew to 18-3 by the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Ambassadors got some more points on the board in the second period, but NSA continued to roll.

Hogan and Hogg helped the Lady Saints dominate the boards, while junior guard Lindsay Knierbein made it difficult for Norfolk Christian to establish momentum because of some debilitating steals. One of them translated directly into a Birdsong basket to make it 31-10.

“Lindsay’s always all over the place,” Nansemond-Suffolk coach Kim Aston said. “She always keeps her hands moving. She always gets tips and deflections, and she has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. She really anticipates well.”

The Lady Ambassadors ended the quarter on a 6-0 run, but they still trailed by 19 at the half, 35-16.

“I thought we came out of the gates really well and played well in the first half,” Aston said. “We spent a lot of time in practice yesterday working on getting the ball back into Harper’s hands, so she can initiate the offense, because in the (conference) tournament, we didn’t do a good job of that.”

The practice paid off in the first half, as Birdsong was productive, scoring and passing the ball.

Norfolk Christian seemed to gain some momentum in the third quarter, starting to grab more rebounds while NSA turned the ball over some.

The Lady Saints still managed to extend their lead to 22 points by the end of the period, making it 45-23, and then they clamped down defensively on the Lady Ambassadors in the fourth quarter.

There were two minutes and 11 seconds left in the game when Norfolk Christian scored its first points of the final period. Aston pointed to perimeter defense as a key making Nansemond-Suffolk’s late 10-0 run possible.

“I thought that our guards up top — whether it was Lindsay or Logan (Harrell) or Abby (Herrod) — all did a good job of defending (Kiara) Norman,” Aston said. “We were trying to show two on Norman at all times.”

Norman, a leader for the Lady Ambassadors, finished with only six points, shooting 1-for-21 from the field and 3-for-4 from the foul line. Olivia Brown led Norfolk Christian with 17 points, but she also struggled from the field, where she shot 35 percent.

Birdsong scored a game-high 20 points to go with 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Hogg generated 16 points, 12 rebounds, nine blocks and two steals.

Hogan also made a key contribution with eight points and 14 boards.

In the other semifinal, which followed the Lady Saints’ game, No. 2 Miller School defeated No. 3 Seton School 62-42.

Last year, the Lady Mavericks defeated NSA 57-25 in the VISAA Division II state final.

To prevent a repeat by Miller (19-12), the Lady Saints (24-3) will need to contain senior forward Imani Bryant, who showed dominance inside against Seton.

The Lady Mavericks have also counted on important contributions from junior point guard Secret Bryant and senior forward Micah Maloney.

The VISAA Division II state championship is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Richard Bland College.