WEST POINT — For three quarters, it was anything but pretty.

For the final eight minutes, though, the West Point High School girls basketball team put on a show. In doing so, it escaped with a 66-54 victory against Houston on Saturday night in the West Point Holiday Invitational.

“That’s why we wanted to play this tournament,” said West Point coach Dashmond Daniel, whose team improved to 6-7. “We wanted to prevent getting rusty. This way, we could get them in the gym and keep them from getting too tired when we come back from break.”

West Point’s holiday appetizer was a team it defeated by nearly 30 points before the break. The outcome was different in the rematch because, according to Daniel, West Point was playing its first game without starting point guard Lasherica West, who is no longer with the team. The result was a 23-turnover performance that saw the Lady Green Wave lead 30-25 at halftime.

“When you take away your point guard, it cuts into everything you do, especially offensively,” Daniel said. “It’s hard to take away a point guard and expect a basketball team to keep humming. We got better as the night wore on.”

The Lady Green Wave got better because junior Quiyon Bailey, who averaged nearly 30 points per game as a sophomore, enjoyed her finest outing as an 11th-grader, scoring a season-high 35 points and adding eight rebounds. Bailey also had six assists on passes to wide-open teammates after the defense collapsed in an attempt to slow her down.

“That’s just natural to me,” Bailey said of her six assists. “If I feel my teammate is open, I’m going to pass them the ball.”

Most of the time, the ball was fine in Bailey’s hands. She had 17 points and eight rebounds in the first half.

“We got beat by a very good player,” Houston coach Vernessa Gates said. “Give credit to West Point because they played better than we did, but (Bailey) killed us.”

While Bailey led the way, she wasn’t alone. Tia McCary had 10 points and Alexis Gates added nine. Despite Bailey’s fireworks, the Lady Hilltoppers cut the deficit to five midway through the fourth quarter.

That’s when Bailey took over, scoring four points in an 8-0 run and assisting on the other four. The spurt turned West Point’s 55-50 cushion into a 63-50 advantage and put the game away.

“I thought we adjusted well,” Daniel said. “Quiyan is slowly realizing what I keep telling her. I want her to shoot as much as possible, and I think she doesn’t believe me. We are at our best when she has the ball.”

That much was evident Saturday, when Bailey knifed through the defense to get easy shots.

“I think I am at my best when I’m going to the rim,” Bailey said. “I have a pretty good jump shot, but I like driving to the basket. Tonight, I saw a lot of openings.”

Aquana Brownlee had 14 points to lead Houston. Victoria Gathings added 11 and Candace Woodhouse had 10.

West Point will play South Panola on Saturday in New Hope High’s tournament.

n Columbus 63, Shannon 52: Rokila Wallace paced the Lady Falcons with 18 points.

Zaria Jenkins had 11 and Jasmine Johnson added 10 to push Columbus to 6-5.

n Vardaman 50, Aberdeen 48: Despite scoring just one point in the fourth quarter, the Lady Rams hung on.

Aberdeen’s Aundrea Robinson paced all scorers with 26 points, while Jakayla Dandy and Amber Johnson had seven.