MERRY HILL – Game tied with 5:39 to play.

That’s how good the matchup between Lawrence Academy and Northeast Academy in the Tarheel Independent Conference opener for both teams was Tuesday night.

Lawrence used a late 9-6 run to grab the win thanks in large part to 12 points from senior Jennifer White, six of which came in the final five minutes of the Lady Warriors 38-35 victory.

The Lady Warriors held a 29-24 lead heading into the final period, but a pair of hoops and a free throw by Jennifer Sykes allowed Northeast to deadlock the score at 29-all.

White’s free throw then gave the Lady Warriors the lead for good. She was followed by a Taylor Sexton bucket and then White hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to make it 34-29.

Northeast got back on track with a Taylor Cocke bucket, but Casey Belch responded with a free throw for the Warriors.

The Lady Eagles weren’t done, however, as Sykes scored with 2:30 left to make it 35-33 in favor of Lawrence. White and Pfeiffer exchanged free throws to leave the Lady Warriors up by two with 39 seconds to play.

White sealed the win with a free throw with four ticks left on the clock.

Sykes led all scorers with 19 points for the Lady Eagles. Pfeiffer added eight while Coke had four. Ashton Liverman and Ivey Little scored two points each.

White paced the Warriors with 12 while Sexton and Belch each chipped in eight points. Ashton Lyle and Ashtyn Mizelle each had four and Kendra Spruill checked in with two points.

The win boosted Lawrence to 1-0 in the TIC.

After Mizelle scored the first hoop for Lawrence, Northeast scored six unanswered in the early going. Pfeiffer had four points for the Eagles while Little also had a bucket to give Northeast a 6-2 lead.

Lawrence battled back thanks to a pair of hoops and a free throw from Belch and a score by Sexton as they surged ahead 11-6.

Pfeiffer answered for Northeast before Belch added a free throw to give Lawrence a 12-8 lead after one quarter.

The teams exchanged hoops and free throws through the early part of the second period with the score still favoring Lawrence by four (18-14) late in the quarter. White scored just before the first half ended to give the Lady Warriors a 20-14 halftime lead.

Sexton extended Lawrence’s lead as the third quarter opened, but Sykes responded immediately for the Lady Eagles. That score sparked a 6-1 run with Northeast getting two hoops from Sykes and one from Cocke as they closed the gap to 23-20.

Lyle and Sexton then had back-to-back hoops for the Warriors, but they were countered by two consecutive buckets by Sykes for Northeast. White’s hoop as the third quarter expired gave Lawrence a 29-24 edge after three quarters.

Lawrence will be back in TIC play Friday when they travel to rival Ridgecroft School.