MOSS BLUFF — Sam Houston lit up the scoreboard and played tough defense Friday night to beat Comeaux 69-35 in a District 3-5A game to lock up a spot in the Class 5A playoffs.

Now they will wait until Monday to see who they will play in the first round when the Louisiana High School Athletic Association releases the brackets.

Sam Houston (14-14, 2-5) finished the regular season on a three-game win streak to get back to .500 and doubled its win total from a year ago.

“I am very excited,” Sam Houston head coach Brandi Pryor said. “I thought our team played really well, as a whole.

“We were young last year and we lost three seniors. My younger girls didn’t get that much experience. Last year was their first year to play a bunch of minutes in the varsity game. From then to now, they have got so much better which is definitely showing.”

Guards Lucy Bellon, Macy Bailey and Rachel Armesto led the charge early, scoring 22 of Sam Houston’s 24 first-quarter points as they raced to a 24-8 lead. Bellon, a senior, scored 21 points while posting four steals, four rebounds and four assists. Bailey scored 16 points with six rebounds and five steals and Armesto, a senior foreign exchange student, had 15 points.

“This week we worked on penetrating, trying to get to the rim more,” Pryor said. “Tonight we did that. We found the gaps, penetrated when we could.

“If they helped over to stop the ball, we kicked it out and hit some big shots early on. That is definitely big for us. If we do the little things like that, we will be able to at least compete. We work so hard on shooting drills in practice. If we can hit our knock-down shots from the outside, it will open up our inside. It paid off tonight.”

Bailey, a junior, opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, and Bellon added another for a 7-2 lead. Comeaux cut Sam Houston’s lead to 7-4 on a put-back by Angelle Thibeaux, but Armesto scored the next five points, driving the basket for two and drilling a deep 3. Sam Houston closed the first quarter on a 17-4 run.

Sam Houston forced Comeaux into turnovers on its first three possessions and 21 in the first half.

“I like to press the ball, pack the lane and try to get them to force the ball to the sides, help on penetration and we do that so well. We pressured the ball so well that we were able to get steals off the passes and score in transition, which is what I like.”

Thibeaux led Comeaux (3-20, 0-7) with 21 points and 16 rebounds for a double-double.