Tattnall Square scored first, lost the lead and spent seemingly forever chasing Westfield.

Finally, thanks to Haley Gordon, the Trojans caught the Lady Hornets. And Ivey Slaughter made sure that Westfield didn’t return the favor.

Gordon’s bucket put Tattnall ahead late in the third quarter, and Slaughter was big in the fourth quarter as the Lady Trojans topped Westfield 40-30 Friday night for the GISA Region 2-AAA championship.

Tattnall improved to 21-5 and will host Westminster at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday to open the GISA Class AAA tournament, while Westfield (22-7) faces Pinewood at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Stratford.

Tattnall’s fourth quarter keyed the region championship win, the Lady Trojans finally playing with the lead.

Once Tattnall got ahead, Westfield did the chasing and tied it at 30 on two Chelsea Whaley free throws with 4:40 left in the game.

Then Slaughter scored low to break the tie 16 seconds later. The teams traded timeouts and possessions, and then Slaughter added a free throw and a putback of her own miss on consecutive trips for a 35-30 lead with 2:09 remaining.

“Ivey just really showed up in the fourth quarter to play,” Westfield head coach Cass Cassell said. “Other players … made some shots. That’s probably the difference right there.

The Lady Hornets couldn’t make any headway after tying it on Whaley’s free throws and went scoreless the rest of the way.

Slaughter finished with 19 for the Lady Trojans, while Whaley topped the Lady Hornets with 11.

Westfield was a little sharper than Tattnall early on but couldn’t turn that into a run to take control. The Lady Hornets kept one or two players near Slaughter at all time, and her touches were minimal for a while.

“Young kids, we were playing hard, a little bit nervous,” Tattnall head coach Todd Whetsel said. “Missing some open shots, missing some three-on-two opportunities. We weren’t able to convert. That’s what we talked about at halftime. The opportunities were there.”

The ball was in Slaughter’s hands more in the second half, often to bring it upcourt against the press and speed the game up a little bit.

Kendall Hardy’s runner off the glass finally tied it at 24 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.

Slaughter drew a charge to get the ball back, and Gordon made a 3-pointer from the right side for Tattnall’s first lead since the opening minute.

“Keep our poise and composure, and be patient on offense,” Whetsel said of the second-half plan. “I felt like if we stayed with it, shots would fall.”