Slidell senior Lillian McAbee scored a game-high 15 points, helping the Lady Tigers defeat the Northshore Lady Panthers, 41-32, in a district game held Friday at SHS.

McAbee said the Lady Tigers talked in practice about playing as a team and looking for open shots.

Slidell coach Josh St. Cyr said McAbee is the Lady Tigers’ leader. “Lots of coaches after ballgames call her a warrior,” St. Cyr said. “She just gives it all she has. (It’s) such an advantage to have a player who can handle the ball so well that even if there are presses we haven’t seen. We’re usually in pretty good shape to get it in 23’s hands. So when we’ve got a lead, we’re really hard to comeback on because we’re hard to press with Lilly.”

Slidell (8-5) evened its district record at 1-1, while Northshore (8-11) is 0-2 in district play.

Northshore led 8-6 after the first quarter.

In the second period, Slidell’s Kameron Lacoste, who finished with nine points, began the scoring with a 3-pointer, giving her team a 9-8 advantage. NHS came back as Tai Abram knocked down a 2-pointer, but Bianca Navarre hit down a pair of free throws and SHS was up 11-10 with four minutes left in the half. The McAbee hit a trey, but Northshore’s Amber Smith, who led the Lady Panthers with 11, completed a 3-point play to knot the game at 14-14 with 2:37 to go.

Then Slidell took over and never looked back, going on a 7-0 run. Navarre, who posted eight points, made a pair from the line and hit a layup to begin the spurt. McAbee capped it by draining a trey with 12 seconds left.

NHS’ Erica Wise finished the half with a layup and the Lady Tigers took a 21-16 lead to the break.

In the third quarter, Northshore pulled to within 24-21 with 5:41 remaining, but Slidell increased its lead.

Navarre tallied to make it 26-21. Lacoste registered a layup with 4:05 to go and then McAbee split free throws, giving SHS a 29-21 advantage with 2:02 left in the third period.

Things remained that way until Northshore’s Tory Hearn split from the charity stripe with 29.1 seconds remaining in the third period to make it 29-22 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, McAbee upped the lead to 31-22 when she hit a shot and was fouled. She missed from the line, but her team still led by nine.

Northshore was able to pull to within seven at 32-25 with 5:21 left, but no closer as the Lady Tigers collected the victory.

Northshore’s Dejean Flemings was in double-figures with 10 points.

Lady Panthers’ coach Mark Beason said Slidell played a good game and deserved to win.