SULPHUR — No. 17 Benton shutdown No. 16 Sulphur in the third quarter, and Chloe Bailey hit some big 3-point shots as the Tigers pulled away for a 42-25 win in the bi-district round of the Division I non-select playoffs Thursday.

The Tigers limited the Tors to 2-of-10 shooting in the third quarter and forced six turnovers, keeping the Tors from using their inside game. Sulphur cut the Tigers’ lead to 17-16 on a jumper by Emma Thomson to start the half but went scoreless for 6 minutes and 45 seconds.

“They were putting a whole lot of pressure on our point guard, Payton Prince, and not letting us get the ball to her,” Sulphur head coach Carol Turner explained. “That disrupts our offense some because she wasn’t going to be able to just catch.

“Then they were playing the paint and help (defense). They were never out on the perimeter guarding us tight man-to-man. They were help-side, standing in the lane with help anytime we were trying to look for our post players. They would shut that down. We were having to look for other opportunities on other offensive looks that we are not used to looking for because of the way they were playing defense on us.”

Benton (20-12) went on an 11-0 run fueled by a trio of 3-pointers from Bailey, including two in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter for a 31-19 lead. Bailey finished with 11 points, and Marissa Schoth added 13 points, seven rebounds and six steals.

“Defensively, we were trying to stop (Schoth) and then cover everybody else, knowing that (Bailey) was a strong shooter for them,” Turner said. “Then in the second half, twice back to back, we gave up shots from her (Bailey) that should have never happened with the defense and game plan that we had.

“Those were two big, key 3s on their part. They were able to take the momentum, and we never got the momentum back in the second half.”

Sulphur held the lead three times early in the first quarter before falling behind by eight points just over a minute into the second quarter. But the Tors limited the Tigers to 9 percent shooting in the second quarter and got within 17-14 by halftime with a 6-1 run fueled by a 3-pointer from Aleigh Coleman.

“I feel like we started off with the momentum of the game and wanting to do well,” Turner said. “We were kind of all over the place, then finally settled in a little bit in the second quarter to where we were able to look at what they were doing defensively and where we could score.”

Thomson led the Tors with eight points and six rebounds.