The King’s Fork High School girls’ basketball team put itself in the most favorable position it could at this point in the postseason with a win on Friday night.

In Thursday’s Region 4A East tournament semifinals, the Lady Bulldogs fell 72-54 to host and defending Group 4A state champion Monacan High School.

King’s Fork had already secured a berth in the state tournament with its win in the regional quarterfinals, but Friday was a consolation game against Huguenot High School that helped determine seeding in the state tourney.

After starting lethargically, the Lady Bulldogs put separation between themselves and the visiting Lady Falcons in the second half en route to a 60-32 victory.

“I think we just wanted to get through tonight, make sure we got through healthy, and that was pretty much it,” King’s Fork coach Maurice Fofana said. “Wasn’t really worried about the scoreboard, didn’t really care about how many points we won by.”

He did have some words for his players at halftime, though, that helped spur them on in the second half.

The Lady Bulldogs led 10-7 after the first quarter, but the Lady Falcons repeatedly got to within striking distance of the lead in the second period.

KF junior forward Amesha Miller helped keep her team ahead, and her free throws were key in enabling the Lady Bulldogs to push out to a 27-19 lead at halftime. But Fofana knew something was missing from his team’s performance.

“We weren’t playing hard,” he said. “We were just kind of going through the motions, wanting to get through, and we just needed to turn it up. We couldn’t finish going into next week the way that we were playing in the first half. So, I did mention that, ‘Hey, we need to pick it up,’ and we need to play much harder than what we were, because that’s when kids get hurt, just trying to go through the motions.”

King’s Fork outscored Huguenot 18-5 in the third quarter.

Miller said bringing energy back to the game was key for the Lady Bulldogs.

“Picking that energy up helped us with our defense,” she said.

Miller finished the game with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore point guard Camary Harris contributed 15 points, seven assists and five steals.

In Thursday’s loss to Monacan, Fofana did not see his team assert itself in the first half.

“We never really slowed (the Lady Chiefs) down, never forced our will on them, just kind of let them have their way,” he said.

The Lady Bulldogs successfully limited Monacan star Megan Walker to 10 points, “but we allowed some other kids to kind of run free and get loose,” Fofana said.

King’s Fork trailed 19-7 after the first quarter and 46-23 at halftime. It narrowly lost the third quarter, 17-16, and then won the fourth period 15-9.

“We just played much better in the second half,” Fofana said. “That’s kind of what it boiled down to. The first half, it was like deer in the headlights.”

But he noted his team had dug itself a big hole by halftime that was hard to get out of.

For the game, Harris had 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals, while Miller added 16 points.

Monacan went on to defeat Woodrow Wilson High School on Friday to claim the Region 4A East championship.

King’s Fork (25-4) will next play in the Group 4A state quarterfinals on March 4 or 5 at the Salem Civic Center in Salem. It will face the loser of a game between William Fleming High School and Carroll County High School.