BRIDGE CITY — In what is going to be a rugged District 22-4A girls basketball race ahead, the Orangefield Lady Bobcats went on the road and notched a defensive 42-37 win over the Bridge City Lady Cardinals Friday night in the 22-4A opener for both squads.

Both teams played fierce defense, but it was the Lady Bobcats (18-7, 1-0) that found big sparks in the second and third periods as they eventually held off the Lady Cardinals (0-1 in district).

Both teams were playoff units last year as the Lady Bobcats snagged the second-place berth and the Lady Cardinals were third and both should definitely be in the hunt.

Paris Fregia had a big night for the Lady Bobcats as she tallied 11 of her game-high 18 points in the second half. It was her eight fourth-quarter points that helped fight off a late Lady Cardinal rally.

Lady Bobcat Emmi Lummus tallied nine points and played ball-hawking defense throughout the battle. The Lady Cardinals had trouble controlling Lady Bobcat post Cameron Choate on the boards. Choate yanked down a whopping 19 rebounds, 12 of them coming in the first half while she also added six points.

Point guard Maysen Tyler had 11 points for the Lady Cardinals and had five points in the fourth period.

The Lady Bobcats led by as much as 37-26 before Bridge City put forth a late rally. A Tyler layup pulled the Lady Cardinals to within 41-37 with 0:35 remaining.

Aniah Hicks also had 11 points for the Lady Cardinals and snagged four rebounds while Madison Fischer ripped down a team-high 11 boards.

The Lady Bobcats finished with a 33-26 rebounding edge.

Orangefield finished with 18 turnovers while the Lady Cardinals had 14.

The Lady Bobcats finished 9-of-14 from the free-throw line while the Lady Cardinals were 11-of-19.

The Lady Cardinals got off to a nice start as they lead 8-4 after the first quarter by forcing Orangefield into five turnovers and seven quick fouls.

Bridge City led 11-4 early in the second period after a three-pointer by Macie Murty but the Lady Bobcats closed out the quarter on a 17-9 run to go up 21-20 at intermission.

Fregia scored seven points in the period, including a big three-pointer while Lummus and Natalie Smith had four points apiece. Smith had six rebounds for the Lady Bobcats as well.

Orangefield turned up their defense a notch in the third period, limiting the Lady Cardinals without a field goal in the quarter while Lummus and Choate scored four points apiece as the Lady Bobcats were able to stretch their lead to 32-25.

Fregia scored on a couple breakaway layups early in the fourth to push the Orangefield lead to 11.

The Lady Cardinals then fought back as they were able to get a couple inside buckets from Caitlyn Dennison and a bucket by Tyler to eventually cut the leads down to four, then the Lady Bobcats were able to run out the clock and made a couple stops on the defensive end.

The two squads continue 22-4A play Tuesday when Bridge City heads to Silsbee and Orangefield travels to Hamshire-Fannett.