ORRVILLE — The Keith High School Lady Bears’ Thursday night matchup with St. Jude in Orrville proved to be only a formality in the quest for a trip to Montgomery.

Keith hit shots from all over the court and kept the Lady Pirates away from the basket to cruise to an 80-40 win and advance to regional action at Alabama State University.

The Lady Bears stumbled out of the gate, head coach Cecil Williams said, but it didn’t take them long to find their rhythm.

“We did start out slow because they came out with the press and we had to adjust to it a little bit,” he said. “After the first quarter, we found our place and finished strong. The third and fourth quarter we really finished strong.”

St. Jude jumped out to a quick 5-4 lead in the opening minutes, which only made the Lady Bears turn their game up a notch.

Keith unleashed a 14-2 run from that point and continued to pour it on securing an 18-7 lead by the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Bears added 17 more in the second quarter behind the hot shooting of Harriet Winchester, who led the team with 16 points, to build a 35-17 lead heading into the break.

The intermission did not cool the Lady Bear offense down one bit.