MONROE – The first and fourth quarters of Thursday’s Class 3A regional playoff game between No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 7 Richwood went exactly how Lady Pios’ coach Nolan Theriot had hoped.

Notre Dame trailed by one (13-12) after the first quarter and outscored Richwood 22-16 in the fourth.

The middle two quarters, however, weren’t as kind to the Lady Pios.

Richwood outscored the Lady Pios 32-15 in the second and third quarters and cruised to a 61-49 victory, eliminating the Lady Pios from the playoffs and ending their 2011-12 season.

“The game got physical,” said Theriot. “The referees allowed us to play and they (Richwood) took advantage of how the game was being called.

“I’m not saying the officials messed us up, but you’ve got to play within the realm of what the officiating is going to give you. Our hats are off to them. They knocked down some big shots when they needed to.”

Notre Dame was within eight (31-23) at the half, but Richwood went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter behind six straight points from Louisiana Tech signee Veanca Hall.

Hall also grabbed five of her 10 rebounds in the third quarter and Richwood limited Notre Dame to just one board in the frame en route to a 14-4 tally in favor of the Lady Rams.

Victoria Davis also gave the Lady Pios difficulty. The senior guard scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the first half. She also finished with 10 rebounds.

On the night, Richwood outrebounded Notre Dame 37-24 after both teams had 16 boards at the break.

The Lady Pios finally got going in the fourth quarter thanks to their full-court pressure.

Notre Dame capitalized on turnovers and scored 22 points in the final eight minutes.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late for the Lady Pios.

“It seemed to spark us a little bit, so if I had to do it all over again, I think I would have pressured them a little bit earlier just to see,” said Theriot. “That was huge because the half-court game, I think, favored them.

“I was worried about some things with Davis because she handles the ball really well. But maybe I handcuffed the kids a little too much and didn’t give them enough confidence.”

Sam Lyons and Mallory Chiasson led the Lady Pios with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Each scored nine points in the fourth quarter.

Mary Charles followed with nine points; Alex Miller added six; Gabbie Romeron had three and Marie Ledet had two.