For most of the first half, No. 5 LaGrange found itself trailing and needed three big surges to beat No. 21 Jennings 50-40 on Monday in the regional round of the nonselect Division II playoffs.

The win was the 200th in the career of LaGrange head coach La’Keem Holmes, who has guided the Gators to at least the quarterfinals four of the last five seasons.

”We played a little anxious,” Holmes said. “People think we are an older team, but we are really only got two girls that played last year.

“Everybody else is new. In front of crowds like this, we have to get in the swing of things. I think a lot of that is nerves. We just have to settle down and play our game. You know what is crazy? We have played these kind of tight games all year. I think we are resilient. That is all I can pray for. Sometimes it is what it takes. It is going to be ugly like this. We are going to take it and play where we have to play Thursday.”

LaGrange (21-7) will travel to No. 4 Albany (22-7) in the quarterfinals.

Katelynn Wilson led LaGrange with 18 points. Kylei Leblanc had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Cierra Amos grabbed nine rebounds and added eight points.

Down 13-7 early in the second quarter, the Gators went on a 7-0 run to erase Jennings’ momentum. Wilson hit a 3-pointer to start the run and later found Leblanc in the lane for the go-ahead bucket, 14-13, with 5:09 left in the quarter.

LaGrange’s lead got as high as seven, but Jennings managed to cut it down to two, 24-22, on a free throw by Niyah Breaux,  12 seconds into the third quarter.

Jennings’ M.J. Thibodeaux nailed a three-pointer with 1:06 in the third quarter to cut the Gators’ lead to 31-30, but that prompted a 10-2 run by the Gators.

But LaGrange would need one more scoring outburst to hold off the Bulldogs.

With 3:14 left in the game, Kandis Willridge’s bucket pulled the Bulldogs back within three points, 41-38, after trailing by as many as nine. But the Gators locked the game up with their defense, holding the Bulldogs to 1 of 6 shooting while closing the game on a 9-2 run.

“It always starts with our defense,” Holmes said. “We are a defensive team.

“We hold teams, and for us, we have to defend the ball.”

Breaux and Thibodeaux led Jennings (16-14) with 15 points apiece.