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Monday night’s girls basketball playoff opener between Lindale and Chapel Hill had a little bit of everything.

Lindale, the underdog based on seeding, jumped out to a 14-point lead over Chapel Hill in the first half and led 21-11 at halftime. The Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Eagles 19-9 in the third quarter, capped by a make from about 30 feet to tie score heading into the fourth quarter.

Lindale responded by holding Chapel Hill without a field goal for the final eight minutes to hold on for a 38-34 victory in the opening round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs inside UT Tyler’s Herrington Patriot Center.

“That was intense,” Lindale head girls basketball coach Daniel Devisscher said. “We struggled offensively. Chapel Hill had good pressure on the ball and made it hard for us to put the ball in the hole. But our girls stayed disciplined when it got tough. We jumped out to a lead. When they closed that gap and it got tied going in the fourth quarter, we had to recollect ourselves, and our girls did a really good job of recollecting themselves and focusing on the defense. I was proud of the defense to close out the game.”

Lindale forced Chapel Hill to go 0 of 13 from the field with eight turnovers in the fourth quarter. All of the Lady Bulldogs’ points in the fourth quarter came from the free-throw line.

Lindale sophomore Ella Hutchens had eight blocks in the fourth quarter to give her a triple-double with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocks, and she also added three steals.

“This is a young team,” Hutchens said. “We have three seniors who have led us, but last year we lost six to eight seniors. This is just a wonderful experience. I’m so thankful we got this opportunity to play a good team like Chapel Hill and be this close and find a way to win.

“We want to go far. We want basketball to last as long as we can.”

With the score tied at 30, Lindale got 3-pointers from Madison Devisscher and Hutchens to go up 36-30. Chapel Hill made two free throws to cut the score to 36-32 with 4:03 to play. Neither team scored for more than two minutes. A Ma’Kaylin Smith free throw pushed the score to 37-32 with 1:35 on the clock before two free throws by Carneecia Johnson cut the score to 37-34 with 1:28 to play. Lindale missed two free throws with 44 seconds left. Multiple turnovers led to Madison Devisscher going to the line with 15 seconds left. She made the second free throw to help close the victory.

“Our girls did a better job of not overclosing out and containing in the fourth quarter, forcing them to have to work the ball off the dribble instead of overplaying and giving them the paint,” Coach Devisscher said. “When they did get in the paint, Ella was huge in cleaning up inside and altering their shots and getting blocks.”

The Lady Eagles finished 7 of 17 from the free-throw line, while Chapel Hill was 8 of 16.

It was almost three minutes into the contest when the first field goal was made thanks to the aggressive defense by both teams. A Hutchens layup made the score 4-0 with 5:09 on the clock. Chapel Hill tied the game with buckets by Ayana McGill Gardner and Rylee Steele, but layups from Hutchens and Smith put the Lady Eagles ahead 8-4 going into the second quarter.

After a quick steal and layup by Lorena Taylor-Fuentes for the Lady Bulldogs, the Lady Eagles went on a 13-1 run to go ahead 21-7. Chapel was able to cut the score to 21-11 at halftime.

A Smith triple pushed the Lindale lead to 29-14 in the third quarter. Chapel Hill then went on a 9-0 run with Steele and Taylor-Fuentes knocking down consecutive threes. Hutchens made a free throw for Lindale before Chapel Hill scored seven points in the final 36 seconds of the third quarter, including one from way downtown by McGill Gardner at the buzzer.

McGill Gardner had 7 points, four rebounds and three steals for Chapel Hill (22-11) — the District 16-4A champion. Johnson led Chapel Hill with 8 points, six rebounds and four steals. Steele had 7 points and three steals. Taylor-Fuentes had 5 points and three steals. Ra’Niyah Suell scored 3 points. Tobi Adams had 2 points and three steals. R’Nyah Tomlinson and Aryssa Cooper each had 1 point. Tomlinson added five steals, and Cooper had five rebounds.

For Lindale (17-15), which finished in fourth place in District 15-4A, Smith had 10 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Madison Devisscher had 7 points and four steals. Kennedy Miller had 3 points, five rebounds and six assists, and Elise Pierce scored 1 point.

Lindale will face Sulphur Springs Thursday in Winnsboro.