The Lady Bulldogs will make their acquaintance with something new this year — the girls’ basketball state tournament stage.

The King’s Fork High School girls’ basketball team punched its first ticket to the state tournament in school history on Tuesday with its 67-48 victory over host Jamestown High School in the Region 4A East tournament quarterfinals.

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Lady Bulldogs coach Maurice Fofana said after the game.

King’s Fork sophomore point guard Camary Harris said when she realized the team had clinched a state berth. “I was, of course, really happy.” Noting that every year, the team gets just to regionals, she added that making it to states was “a big accomplishment for us.”

To make it happen, the Lady Bulldogs had to out-pace the Lady Eagles.

The score was tied 17-17 after the first period.

“We kind of came out flat the first quarter,” Fofana said, adding that he figured this would be the case after a long drive to Williamsburg.

But then the Lady Bulldogs settled down and took off, using pressure defense to put a gap between them and their hosts on the scoreboard.

“We were able to turn them over a whole lot,” Fofana said.

King’s Fork led 34-26 at halftime, its lead shrunk slightly to 47-41 after the third period, but then the Lady Bulldogs won the fourth quarter 20-7.

For the game, “I really think that Camary was the difference,” Fofana said, noting that she attacked Jamestown’s zone defense, penetrating it and opening things up for junior forward Amesha Miller.

Harris finished with 22 points, 10 assists and seven steals, while Miller produced 23 points and 15 rebounds.

Fofana said that junior guard Alexis Wethington gave the Lady Bulldogs a great defensive spark off the bench, junior forward Latoya Thomas provided quality minutes and freshman guard Neecole Brown started and was clutch, hitting two big three-pointers.

For now, King’s Fork (24-3) is not focused on states.

“We want to win the region,” Fofana said.

The Lady Bulldogs’ next step will be facing host and defending Group 4A state champion Monacan High School on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the regional semifinals.