SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley girls basketball team used lengthy runs in the second and third quarters to power past Carver, 55-34, during its quarterfinal victory in the MIAA Division 4 state tournament on Friday.

The third-seeded Tigers (20-3) went on a 12-0 run to open the second quarter after the first eight minutes were tied, 8-8. Then, South Hadley scored 24 of the total 31 points in the third quarter (seven points from the No. 6 Crusaders), to advance to the semifinal round for the third time in the last four seasons.

“I thought the third quarter was the difference,” Tigers head coach Paul Dubuc said. “We just blew them out in the third quarter. Our defense has been good for about three weeks now. I mean if you hold a team to 34[points] in your own gym, you should be OK. We take pride in that.”

South Hadley’s stout defense kept Carver (18-5) to single digits during the first three quarters, before Dubuc gave his bench players some minutes in the fourth and the Crusaders nabbed 13 in the final frame. The Tigers’ press, specifically, really seemed to give Carver fits in this one.

“We rotated back on defense out of our press really well,” Tigers sophomore Kate Phillips said. “Overall, we’re just such a hard-working team that we can communicate, we can help each other and we can play aggressive on defense and know that we have each other’s backs.”

Phillips paced South Hadley with 21 points, including 11 during the third quarter alone, when seemingly every shot was falling for the Tigers. Phillips was phenomenal in the post for South Hadley on both sides of the court.

“We just moved the ball so well, which can get anybody open, which is great,” Phillips said. “At the end of the day too, it comes down to being focused and just focusing on making your shots.

“We definitely tend to wake up and get into our groove and that really, really, helps us,” Phillips added. “It’s great to see when we can get out and get on a run.”

Cara Dean, another Tigers’ sophomore, poured in 14 points to supplement the scoring for the victors. Seven points from senior Ava Asselin and six points from freshman Olivia Athas rounded out South Hadley’s top four scorers against the Crusaders.

The Tigers led 25-14 at half with 17 points from six different South Hadley players in the second quarter.

“We played very unselfish, we played together and the open person got it in the basket. It’s not that complicated when you do things right,” Dubuc said. “I thought we rebounded well. We’re in a good groove. We’ve been here before, so we have an idea of what it’s like and we’re playing at home. We didn’t have to get in a bus and go an hour and half or whatever and nobody told that team they were supposed to lose, so that’s why they came out [well].”

With South Hadley’s next game to be played at a neutral site, Friday’s win was the last game at the Tigers’ gym this season. South Hadley went 13-1 on its home court this year, with its lone loss coming to Northampton, 60-47, back on Dec. 18.

Carver entered Friday’s matchup on an 11-game win streak, but were stonewalled by a Tigers team that looks motivated to head back to the state final. The Crusaders’  Julia Grimes had nine points as their top scorer.

South Hadley will meet second-seeded Millis in the Final Four matchup, after the Mohawks (16-7) downed Gardner, 53-34, Friday in their Round of 8 win. The date and location for that semifinal game were still to be determined at press time.