After beating Lafayette on the road on Tuesday, the Meridian High School girls’ basketball team earned a semi-home game in the State Semifinals as they faced the Lake Taylor Titans in Alexandria. Taylor had just defeated Brentsville, who beat Meridian in the Regional Finals last week, but they also lost to the same Lafayette squad that the Mustangs up-ended, so this one was set to be a dogfight.

That it was, and it would be evident right from the opening tip. Meridian gave up the first two points before Ellie Friesen made a three, and then she hit another one moments later to put the Mustangs ahead 8-5. Taylor would go ahead 17-12 after a quarter, though, and stayed ahead 27-22 at the end of the half, as Friesen all but singlehandedly kept Meridian in the game with her 13 points at the intermission. But the Mustangs had been in this situation before, having also trailed Lafayette at halftime on Tuesday before taking over down the stretch, and head coach Chris Carrico was sure to adjust his team back into it.

Sure enough, the tide began to turn after the break as some other Mustangs got involved, with Nora Stufft hitting a few big shots at the rim and Charlotte Lieu making two free throws to tie the game at 32. Lieu then made a three-pointer to give Meridian the lead late in the third quarter, but a 7-0 Taylor run – highlighted by some unpopular officiating – put the Titans back ahead by four entering the final frame. Then, with their season on the line, the Mustangs responded with an 8-0 burst to take the upper hand for good, a lead that they’d extend to 48-41 with under three minutes to go. Shortly afterwards Meridian began to hold the ball while forcing Taylor to foul, and though the Titans drew back within five in the final minute after going down 54-44, they’d get no closer. The Mustangs executed at the foul line to close out the 59-53 victory, punching their ticket to Richmond for the third time in the past four seasons.

Friesen ended up with 21 – including six three-pointers – to lead the way for Meridian, while Lieu had 13. Lake Taylor’s Lamari Budd scored 28, but the Mustangs were able to make her more uncomfortable in the second half, which Carrico cited as a crucial development in the win.

“We put Ava Smith on her, that made the difference,” the coach said. He went on to note how similar the win was to Tuesday’s at Lafayette, in which Smith was instrumental defensively in the second half there as well.

The girls will face off against Liberty Christian in the VHSL Class 3 Finals, set to be played at 6 P.M. next Friday at VCU’s Stuart C. Siegel Center.