The Chapel Hill girls finally found a team that could give them a tussle in Saturday’s championship game of the Holiday in the Pines Girls’ Basketball Tournament at Pinecrest.

Hough (8-2) cut a 13-point second-half deficit to one point with 1:17 remaining in the game, but the Tigers (9-0) hung on to eke out a 54-49 victory. It was their first win this season by a margin of less than 30 points.

Pinecrest (6-5) defeated Richmond Senior (2-8) 47-35 in the consolation game. Felicia Painter scored 20 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for the Patriots. Teammate Janea Williams also put together a double-double that included 11 points and 14 boards.

Chapel Hill had 13 players return from last year’s squad that finished 27-3, making it to the fourth round of the 3-A state playoffs. The Tigers held Richmond to three field goals in Friday’s 68-15 opening-round win with a pressing defense that produces baskets in transition.

The Charlotte-area Huskies got better at dealing with the pressure on Saturday as the game went on.

“We had a slow start and we weren’t really playing our game because we were letting their play affect us,” Huskie forward Kelsey Dean, the tournament’s leading scorer said afterward. “When we focused on us that’s when we got it back.”

The Tigers took their biggest lead at 44-31 in the closing minute of the third quarter. A three-point play in transition by the Huskies’ Brandi Arey made it 50-46 at the 3:24 mark. About two minutes later, Dean was fouled and had a chance to tie the game up, but made the first and missed the second free throw.

The Tigers’ Raziyah Farrington fed Jamella Smith for a basket off the fast break and a flagrant foul against the Huskies led to the final points of the game by Farrington at the charity stripe.

“We knew they’d be tough because they have really good shooters,” Smith, the tournament MVP said. “We just had to play hard, play good defense and be smart. This year our main focus is on defense because defense wins championships. We feel if our defense is really good our offense will come.”

Dean, who scored 19 points in Saturday’s 48-41 win over Pinecrest, led the Huskies with 14. Autumn West scored 13 and had six steals for the Tigers.

After scoring just one point in the first period, Richmond Senior stayed within striking distance of Pinecrest with the help of four threes and 16 points by Shaquail Wall. The Patriots led 34-17 early in the third period, but a basket off an offensive rebound by the Raiders’ Jade Evans cut the margin to 40-33 early in the fourth.

Painter, who was 11-for-12 on free throws, went six-for-seven down the stretch to clinch the win.

“With the loss last night, we were a little bit down because we could have beaten that team (Hough),” she said. “We definitely showed up to play. We just worked hard, did our thing and came out on top.”

Turnovers, the taking of quick shots and missed layups have made things hard for the Patriots leading up to their next game and Southeastern Conference opener at home against Lumberton on Jan. 11.

“We’ve just got to be patient,” Painter said. “We have to settle down and run our offense like we do in practice.”

Richmond 1 14 12 8 — 35

Pinecrest 8 10 20 9 — 47

Richmond: Keane 0 0-0 0, Stanback 2 1-2 6, Ellerbe 0 2-3 2, Wall 6 0-0 16, Evans 4 0-0 8, Ewing 1 1-3 3. Totals 13 4-8 35.

Pinecrest: Painter 4 11-12 20, Lynch 2 1-2 6, M. Thomas 0 0-0 0, Paran 0 2-4 2, Williams 5 1-6 11, Waddell 2 0-2 4, Chalmers 1 1-2 4, Alston 0 0-0 0, Fairley 0 0-0 0, Gaffney 0 0-0 0, Lacy 0 0-0 0, Z. Thomas 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 16-28 47.

Three-point goals: R 5 (Wall 4, Stanback); P 3 (Painter, Lynch, Chalmers).

Chapel Hill 10 17 17 10 — 54

Hough High 13 8 12 16 — 49

Chapel Hill: Eatmon 3 2-3 9, Musalem 0 0-0 0, A. Jacobs 0 1-2 1, Guthmiller 1 0-0 2, Wall 1 3-4 6, M. Jacobs 1 0-0 2, Farrington 3 2-2 8, Smith 4 1-2 9, Suitt 2 0-0 4, West 6 1-1 13. Totals 21 10-14 54.

Hough: Demarcus 0 2-2 2, T. Junior 3 2-2 9, Arey 3 3-3 9, Mayne 0 0-1 0, Dean 6 4-13 16, Brown 6 1-2 13. Totals 18 12-22 49.

Three-point goals: C 2 (Eatmon, Wall); H 1 (T. Junior).