ANSONIA — Twin Valley South pulled away late in Thursday’s Cross County Conference girls basketball game to defeat Ansonia 59-43 on the Tigers’ senior night.

Ansonia erased an 8-point halftime deficit early in the third quarter, tying the game at 36-36 midway through the period, but from there South outscored Ansonia 23-7 to win by 16 points.

Neither team could gain much of an advantage early in the game played on Thursday, Feb. 1, with the opening quarter ending with Twin Valley South holding a slight 16-14 lead. Trinity Henderson led Ansonia with 9 points in the quarter, which included a pair of 3-pointers while Kassy Wentworth added 3 points and Katie Werts scored 2.

Baskets from Heidi Runkel and Wentworth put Ansonia up 18-16 early in the second quarter. The Tigers also got points from Werts and Henderson in the period, but the Panthers finished the half on an 8-0 run to lead 32-24 at halftime.

Ansonia got off to a hot start in the third quarter with scoring from Millie Widener, Wentworth, Bailey Stammen and Werts. The Tigers scored 12 of the first 16 points in the quarter to knot the score at 36-36 with 4:37 remaining in the period.

However, Ansonia was unable to retake the lead as Twin Valley South finished the third quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 43-38. The Panthers then broke the game open in the fourth quarter as they won 59-43.

Mylan Crews led Twin Valley South with a game-high 17 points. Also for the Panthers, Kelsie Shafer scored 16 points, McKenzie Neal scored 10, Madison Johnson scored 9, Taylor Bowers scored 4, and Abby Bingham scored 3.

South (6-12, 3-7 CCC) is scheduled to host Bethel on Thursday, Feb. 8.