PORT NECHES — The senior class for Port Neches-Groves’ girls basketball team had to leave something for their younger teammates to build on. And the juniors helped make sure of that.

Juniors Khloe Droddy and Hannah Jones each scored 12 points, classmate Taylor Johnson had 11, and PN-G earned its first District 22-5A win of the season Friday night with a 45-35 win over Nederland. Both teams, now tied for seventh place in the district, have one game remaining on the season.

So, there was no better time for the Lady Indians to pull out a win than Senior Night.

“This one was pretty big, especially since Nederland is our rival,” Droddy said. “We just did it for our seniors. We’ve come a long way throughout the season. I’m happy to say we won our last game with them.”

Nederland (1-12 in 22-5A) earned about two-thirds of its scoring through senior Christine Porterfield, who had 23 points. But the Lady Bulldogs — who beat PN-G 53-44 Jan. 12, were a victim of a performance that finally came together for coach Robin Wilson’s Lady Indians.

“I’d definitely say they came together as a team,” Wilson said. “My juniors are starting to play like juniors. My seniors really took control and played like seniors. We did some adjusting on our defense and some adjusting on our pass break, and they came together.”

PN-G opened up a 15-11 first period and led 29-18 at intermission. Droddy had eight points going into the locker room after going scoreless through the first 8 minutes.

“We definitely played more as a team and listened to our coach more,” Droddy said. “We knew it was a big deal, like it always is, but we should’ve done it last time. It was definitely a good one.”

PN-G led 37-19 at one point before Nederland cut away at the lead with the help of Jocelyn Nguyen and Porterfield. Nguyen scored all eight of her points in the second half.

But as it turned out, seniors Destiny Post and Brooke Ramirez left their home court at The Reservation with something to remember for a while — beating the archrival when they really needed to taste a victory. (PN-G has six wins overall, but the overall record is unknown.)

“We needed that win to make them a team,” Wilson said. “They needed to know they could win.”

PN-G visits Ozen on Tuesday, when Nederland hosts Baytown Lee for its Senior Night.