Facing a St. Ursula girls basketball team they had beaten by 25 earlier this season, the Lakota West Firebirds got off to a sluggish start offensively Tuesday night in their Division I sectional tournament opener at Harrison High School.

But the West defense, and specifically its full-court press, started strong and stayed that way, allowing the offense to catch up and lift the third-seeded Firebirds to a 60-36 victory against the No. 25 Bulldogs.

The win advances Lakota West (20-3) to Friday’s 7 p.m. sectional championship game at Harrison against No. 7 McAuley, which beat No. 9 Sycamore 52-42 in Tuesday’s early game.

Sophomore guard Lauren Cannatelli scored a game-high 16 points, while sophomore Arianne Whitaker added 10 for the Firebirds, who won their 10^th consecutive game for the program’s longest winning streak since stringing together 15 in a row to reach the state semifinals in 2009.

St. Ursula (4-20), which came into the game having lost 16 of its last 18, got off to an inspired start and only trailed 14-11 early in the second quarter.

“You purposely choose not to play a first-round game so you get a game like this to start the tournament,” said West coach Andy Fishman, who took a first-round bye at the sectional draw. “It was a challenge physically and mentally. You always know a Coach (Jimmy) Leon team is going to fight and scrap.”

But the West press took away some of that fight by forcing eight turnovers during a four-minute span in the second quarter, sparking a 14-1 run that buried the Bulldogs.

The Firebirds took a 33-17 lead into halftime, with 14 of those points coming off turnovers. Another 10 were second-chance points as West dominated on the boards as well, something the Firebirds were unable to do Dec. 28 in their 60-35 home win against St. Ursula.

West had only a 21-18 rebounding edge in that first meeting, but Tuesday night the Firebirds collected 23 boards by halftime and finished with a 48-29 advantage.

The 48 rebounds were a season high, eclipsing the 37 West had Jan. 30 in a 62-38 win at Middletown.

“That’s amazing,” Fishman said when informed of the team’s total. “That’s really pretty incredible.”

Freshman Nia Staples, freshman Lexi Wasan and Whitaker each had seven rebounds to share team-high honors.