AHOSKIE – It will be an all 3-A final.

Roughly two hours after Bertie punched their ticket to the finals of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald Holiday Classic sponsored by United Country Joe Murray Realty, the Lady Bears of Hertford County knocked off Northampton-East 54-37 to secure their spot in the finals.

Hertford County jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to Kenya Cofield dropping in a pair of three-pointers around two free throws from Ashley Fountain.

East got a free throw from Jalisa Parker to stop the spurt and eventually trimmed the deficit to six (13-7) when Dominique Peoples scored at the end of the first quarter.

The Rams kept coming at HCHS, getting back-to-back scores from Peoples to cut the lead to 14-13, but Raquetta Moore hit back-to-back buckets to help the Lady Bears lead 18-15 at halftime.

Rasheema Speller started the third quarter with a triple for HCHS.

Late in the quarter, however, the contest was still a three-point affair as the Bears led 28-25. From there, however, Cofield dominated the remaining part of the period. She hit two free throws and then buried back-to-back three-pointers to give HCHS a 36-25 lead heading into the final period of play.

Northampton-East got back to within seven when Chiquitta Swain and Jessica Price combined for six of the opening eight points in the fourth to make it 38-31.

Cofield hit another three and Moore followed with a deuce to give the Lady Bears a 43-31 lead with 5:41 to play in the contest.

Cofield then hit another three as the Lady Bears pulled away for the 54-37 win.

Lady Bears (54): Kenya Cofield n 26, R. Speller n 9, R. Moore n 6, J. Hardy n 5, A. Fountain n 4, B. Williams n 4

Lady Rams (37): Chiquitta Swain n 18, Dominique Peoples n 10, J. Price n 5, J. Parker n 3, B. Manley – 1