The Lady Bulldogs went on the road Friday and defeated Monacan High School 67-55 to advance to the Class 4 state semifinal.

King’s Fork High School’s girls’ basketball team was in control the whole night as they took down the defending champions. After one quarter of play, the Lady Bulldogs led 23-14. They continued to build on their lead heading into the second half up 39-28.

King’s Fork kept its foot on the gas in the second half regardless of having three of its starting five in foul trouble. Nylah Young and Camary Harris led the charge for the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points apiece. Brianna Copeland added 15 points, and Neecole Brown added 12 points.

After losing to Monacan the last three years in the state tournament, King’s Fork was finally able to turn the tables. Victory was especially sweet this year, as the Lady Bulldogs lost the state championship game last year against Monacan on a controversial call.

“We competed and played pretty good,” Lady Bulldogs coach Maurice Fofana said. “We had to fight through some things such as the foul trouble. But we had no choice but to keep playing.”

The Lady Bulldogs were ready for everything Monacan was expected to do from a game plan perspective. Even though Fofana felt his team could have executed what they wanted to do a little bit better, he was happy with the win.

“We played so hard for the whole game,” Young said. “With all of the foul trouble, things got crazy. We held on and fought until the end.”

The win Friday night set up round two between King’s Fork and Lake Taylor High School, with a trip to the state championship on the line. Last time these two teams met, it was in the region championship game Feb. 24, and Lake Taylor took the game with a two-point win. King’s Fork was the No. 1 seed, while Lake Taylor was the No. 2 seed.

“Executing will be important this time around,” Fofana said. “We missed 15 free throws last game. We are not going to beat anybody missing 15 free throws.”

Fofana even believes that losing to Lake Taylor in the first matchup was could be better for them in the long run than winning that game. The Lady Bulldogs will have to make a quick turnaround as they will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at Churchland High School.