The battle of girls’ basketball teams that remained unbeaten in the Ironclad Conference had a decisive victor on Thursday.

Though King’s Fork High School head coach Maurice Fofana was not pleased with his team’s streaky performance, the Lady Bulldogs still dispatched the visiting Lady Warriors 58-36.

“Even though we won by 22 points, I don’t think we played well tonight,” Fofana said. “We played in spurts, once again.”

Nansemond River head coach R. Calvin Mason said he had seen King’s Fork play better, as well, but he said the biggest factor was that much of his young team had never seen King’s Fork at all, on the same court as them.

They knew the Lady Bulldogs by reputation, however, as a very strong team.

“It was like we were on the stage, somebody turned the lights on and we had stage fright,” Mason said. “I thought we played the name as opposed to an actual team.”

He also said the crowd was also a bit larger than normal, since the game occurred on a night the boys’ teams were not playing.

King’s Fork senior Virginia Tech commit Khadedra Croker likely lived up to the expectations Nansemond River players had of her, even if they were exaggerated. She produced another triple-double performance with 24 points, 20 rebounds and 14 blocks.

Lady Bulldogs freshmen Amesha Miller and Cydney Nichols chipped in nine points apiece.

“We still are a little out of sync,” Fofana said, noting the unexpected snow days are still affecting the team.

Various factors throughout the season have delayed this initial meeting between King’s Fork and Nansemond River. As a result, their second game comes today.

Mason had a positive outlook on his team as it moves forward.

“I’m not discouraged by what we did,” he said. He comforted his players by letting them know, “We can make adjustments.”

Fofana also looked on the bright side regarding his team.

“It’s a good thing that we have another game Saturday and that we can have another week before the tournament,” he said, to fine tune things.

Today, King’s Fork (15-2, 6-0) travels to Nansemond River (8-9, 5-1) for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off following the junior varsity girls’ game.