The Westside girls basketball team likely won’t win its third consecutive district championship this year, but the grit the Wolves have taken from the past two years seemed to reap big dividends Friday night against Lamar.

After bolting to an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter, Westside survived several furious Lamar runs to capture a 77-68 victory in District 20-5A play at Butler Field House.

Locked solidly into third place in 20-5A behind Madison and state-ranked Bellaire, Westside (16-10 overall, 8-2 district) won’t get higher because Madison shaked first-place and Bellaire earlier this season.

But with games against Chavez and Bellaire next week, the Wolves’ postseason berth hardly is engraved in stone. That was a big reason Friday’s start – and result – were so gratifying.

Donna Dike scored 26 points and Meagan Allen added 21. Dike had seven of Westside’s 23 offensive rebounds and the Wolves outrebounded the Redskins (16-9, 7-4) 34-18.

“It’s been a topsy-turvy season. We’ve had a hard time stringing a bunch of wins together,” Wolves coach Troy Gillespie said. “But we have earned some good wins over some quality teams.”

A 17-3 run late in the first quarter gave Westside a 23-7 lead, and Allen’s 3-pointer with 4:50 left in the first half made it 32-14. But back came Lamar, which outscored Westside 22-14 in the second quarter and got as close as 46-42 with three minutes left in the third.

Krystal Mathey scored 23 of her game-high 31 points in the second half to spearhead the comeback. She hit five 3-pointers on the night.

“They hit a couple big shots and made a great game of it,” Gillespie said. “I think my blood pressure’s still about 170 on both sides.”

But even as the Redskins chipped away, they couldn’t stay out of foul trouble.

Standout Alex Heaggs fouled out with 4:55 left, at which time two teammates had four fouls apiece. It translated into a considerable edge inside for Westside.

“Before we came over here, we talked in our gym about getting their players in foul trouble. If we could do that we knew it would be a predominantly Westside game,” Gillespie said. “They have great shooters and early on we got a charge and a couple calls.”

Dike put the lead back to 14 with less than six minutes left when she cut behind a screen for a layup and driving the baseline for another moments later to make it 62-48.

“I was just able to get to the ball, post up real well and create some space,” Dike said.

Though Lamar got within eight points in the final minute, Allen applied a huge blow with 1:30 left, converting a steal into a layup for a 73-60 lead.

Allen had five assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

BOYS: Lamar 57, Westside 43

Huge second and third quarters helped Lamar hold off Westside in 20-5A.

After the first quarter ended a 13-13 tie, the Redskins (5-4 district) went on a 13-4 lead in 5 minutes, 10 seconds to build what turned out to be enough of a cushion.

Greg Anthony scored 13 points and Josh Leuchtag 12 for Lamar.

Kevin Brooks and Dannin Harris had eight points apiece for Westside.

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