The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ basketball team left no room for argument in the battle between the top two seeds of the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools tournament on Saturday afternoon at Norfolk Christian High School.

The No. 1 Lady Saints took everything No. 2 Cape Henry Collegiate School threw at them and pulled away for a 73-44 fulfillment of their season-long goal to win the conference tournament championship.

NSA head coach Kim Aston confessed something afterwards.

“I was very nervous coming into this game,” she said. While a student at Old Dominion University, she played at intimidating venues on the road in places like Tennessee and Texas, but said she “wasn’t nervous as a player. But as a coach… a little bit nervous.”

Her players, apparently, were not.

“I think we were ready,” NSA senior guard/forward Jessica Pieroni said. “We were ready coming in.”

The Lady Dolphins started out with a box-and-one defense centered on stopping Pieroni. Then they moved on to a hybrid meant to contain Pieroni, sophomore point guard Harper Birdsong and senior guard Macy Mears.

They were forced to abandon that plan when sophomore center Caroline Hogg and senior guard/forward Kaylor Nash started making baskets.

“It was a team win,” Pieroni said.

Taking an 18-13 lead coming out of the first quarter, Nansemond-Suffolk out-scored the Lady Dolphins 16-8 in the second, still enjoyed a 19-15 scoring advantage in a competitive third and sealed the rout in a 20-8 fourth.

“If we score 73 points, I think we’re going to be tough for anyone to beat,” Aston said.

The Lady Saints had four players in double figures and nearly a fifth. Pieroni led the way with 18 points, Mears had 14, Birdsong had 13 points and seven assists, Nash had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three assists and Hogg had eight points.

Aston highlighted Hogg’s effective interior play on Thursday against Norfolk Academy and had continued reason to highlight her on Saturday.

“I thought she came up big today,” Aston said, noting both her offensive and defense contributions, which included seven rebounds, three assists and six blocks.

The coach was disappointed that Mears did not get named to the all-tournament team, noting she did far more than just score in double figures. It was her job to guard Cape Henry senior point guard Bianca Roach, the TCIS Player of the Year.

“She shut her down,” Pieroni said of Mears. “She did awesome.”

Roach scored 23 points, but Aston implied it came through high-volume shooting. “I’d like to see how many shots she put up,” she said. It turns out, Roach shot 39 percent from the field on 7-for-18 shooting.

Winning the TCIS tournament had been a primary goal this year for the talented and experienced Lady Saints, and Birdsong, one of only three underclassmen on the team, took a moment to reflect on the win.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but this was the year to do it, and I’m just so excited,” she said. “It’s a great feeling.”

Pieroni was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, and Birdsong and Nash were named to the all-conference team. This was a particularly strong testament to Nash’s impact, given that she missed the quarterfinal game due to illness.

Nansemond-Suffolk went a perfect 15-0 against conference opponents this season.

With one post-season goal down, NSA will soon tackle its second one: finishing higher in the state tournament than last year. In 2013, the team fell to Norfolk Christian High School in the state quarterfinals.

The Lady Saints (20-2) will begin play in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II state tournament on Wednesday at NSA, with the opponent yet to be determined.