The Sterling girls basketball team entered its first postseason game as a heavy favorite.

The No. 2-seeded Golden Warriors, who had received votes in the latest Associated Press Poll, were playing a La Salle-Peru team they had beaten by 37 points during the regular season.

But the No. 7-seeded Cavaliers didn’t make it easy.

Sterling fell behind by five points early and didn’t lead by double digits until the final seconds of the third quarter before pulling away in the fourth for a 64-40 victory in a Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional semifinal Monday in La Salle.

“I feel like it took us a while to get going,” Sterling coach Taylor Jackson said. “It took us a while to get our shots to fall. I just think it was first game of the postseason, and there were a little bit of jitters. They kind of played that out, and I like how we finished.”

The Golden Warriors (22-9) advance to the title game at 6 p.m. Thursday against No. 3 Ottawa (19-9).

“Ottawa is a really good team,” Jackson said. “I think we need to have a really good game plan to be able to defend them. They’ve got some really good shooters, so we just need to be locked in and ready to go.”

The Pirates advanced with a 43-21 victory over No. 6 Plano. Sterling and Ottawa have not played this season.

“We need to show up and play all four quarters and just be ready to compete,” Sterling junior Joslynn James said.

On Monday, the Golden Warriors missed their first nine shots before Nia Harris scored on a putback with 2:32 left in the first quarter to cut Sterling’s deficit to 5-2.

The Golden Warriors did manage to tie it at 7 by the end of the quarter on a layup by Joslyn Green with 10.9 seconds left.

“We were a little shaky at first,” James said. “We had those first-game jitters, I guess, being the postseason. It’s regionals and anything can happen. It’s hard to beat a team twice.”

The Cavaliers hung around through the majority of the first three quarters.

Emma Jereb drove for a bucket on the first possession of the second quarter to give L-P a 9-7 lead, and she buried a 3-pointer with 5:08 left in the first half to give the Cavs their last lead at 12-11.

L-P went into halftime down 20-15 and kept within single digits until the final seconds of the third.

Sterling’s Brenly Johnson drained a 3 with 18.2 seconds left, and James split a pair of free throws to send the Golden Warriors to the fourth up 39-29.

“The first two and a half quarters were pretty good,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “I thought our defensive rotations were fine. If they can’t score, they can’t press, and that’s what we struggled with most.

“They beat us by nearly 40 the last time, and we were down six (late in the third) before that girl hit a wide-open 3, and then they got a steal and (James) split free throws. We were down five at half and 10 at the end of the third. And really we could have been down six. We’ll take it.

“It was an uphill battle, and we schemed it up for a half. You can’t fault the girls. They were playing hard.”

Sterling’s intense pressure began to wear down the Cavs in the fourth quarter, and the Golden Warriors capitalized. The Golden Warriors forced nine turnovers in the final eight minutes that led to 17 points as they extended their lead.

“At halftime we talked about locking in on the defensive side and trying to cause more chaos and take more risks,” James said. “I think we did a good job of that.

“We definitely brought more energy. We were just getting up and playing defense and talking, and that turned into an offensive game.”

James poured in a game-high 32 points, including 22 in the second half, for Sterling, while Johnson hit three 3s to contribute nine points. Harris added seven.

Drew Depenbrock and Alexus Hines each scored nine points for L-P (13-15), while Jereb finished with eight, and Brie Ruppert and Maggie Boudreau each contributed seven.