Nansemond River High School’s girls’ basketball team jumped out to a 15-point lead early against visiting Lakeland High School and maintained it for much of Thursday’s showdown, leading to an 82-67 victory in which Aneka Yelverton registered a key career achievement.

Lady Warriors coach R. Calvin Mason Sr. pointed to tempo as what helped dictate the outcome of the game.

“We’ve been trying to increase our tempo a little bit,” he said, and he noted that he knew the Lady Cavaliers did not have a lot of players. “I thought that we could wear them down a little bit, and I think we did.”

Nansemond River led 26-11 after one quarter, was up 46-31 at the half and expanded the lead to 66-45 by the end of the third.

“I had my starters on the bench toward the end of the game,” Mason said.

Despite the loss, Lakeland’s performance against the Lady Warriors left its coach, Brandey Blunt, with a lot of confidence in her team as it nears conference play.

“I thought we played pretty well against them,” she said. “Defensively, we’ve got to learn how to close out on the shooters.”

Nansemond River had a variety of contributors, led by its sophomore point guard.

“Briana (Autrey) had a really good night,” Mason said. “She had 22 (points), seven assists, three steals.”

Junior point guard Tashira Burch registered 12 points, four rebounds and three assists, and junior shooting guard Cassidy Simmons had 11 points and five assists.

Junior forward/guard Daijah Norris recorded 10 points and 13 rebounds, “and that’s coming off of a 15-point, 14-rebound game against Grassfield (High School),” Mason said, referring to the Lady Warriors’ Tuesday game, which they won 71-32.

Norris has been working her way back into the lineup after being out with a hamstring injury, and Tuesday’s and Thursday’s games were her first as a starter this season.

“I had a talk with her Monday, and just reminded her how important she was to what we do,” Mason said, noting her rebounding gives the team an edge. “When she’s on her game, she makes us a different team.”

Senior center Sabre Clegg got in some foul trouble but still contributed eight points and seven rebounds.

Senior guard/forward Aneka Yelverton finished with 15 points, 13 of which came in the first half before she became the focus of a box-and-one defense by Lakeland.

She entered the game six points shy of the 1,000 mark for her career and became the fifth Lady Warrior to reach it in school history.

“I was really proud of her,” Mason said. “She’s basically done this in two and a half years,” as she scored only about 28 points as a freshman.

He said it has not been easy for her, she just put in the hard work necessary.

This season, “she’s done a much better job of getting to the hoop, which is giving her more opportunities at the free throw line, also,” Mason said.

The last Lady Warrior to reach 1,000 points was Ashante Humphries in 2013.

For Lakeland, sophomore guard Makayla Dickens continued her remarkable season on Thursday with 27 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

“I think that might have been the best game all-around that I’ve seen her play so far,” Blunt said.

Junior forward/center Deja Freeman produced career highs of 12 points and nine rebounds.

“All of the girls were very encouraging to each other to be sure not to quit,” Blunt said. “We were playing as if we were down one (point).”

On Wednesday, Lakeland (8-4) visits Warwick High School, while Nansemond River (9-2) hosts King’s Fork High School (13-0).