FAIRMONT — The first three meetings this season between the Fairmont and St. Pauls girls basketball teams came down to narrow margins, with a play or two proving massive in each outcome, with two won by the Golden Tornadoes and one by the Bulldogs.

When the teams met for a fourth time Friday with the Southeastern Athletic Conference tournament title on the line, the result came in a more convincing manner.

Fairmont staved off a third-quarter comeback bid by the Bulldogs and pulled away in the fourth, earning a 55-42 win for the program’s first conference tournament championship since 2006.

“It means everything, because we wanted it bad, we wanted to win,” Fairmont junior forward Taniya Simms said.

“We wanted to reach our goal — we had to reach our goal,” Golden Tornadoes junior guard Miah Smith added.

After the teams shared the regular-season conference championship, Friday’s result will give Fairmont (23-3) the league’s top state playoff seed when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association releases brackets on Saturday.

In the four meetings against St. Pauls (17-5) since Dec. 23, Fairmont’s only loss came in the one previous to Friday, a 52-48 overtime defeat on Feb. 6.

Friday, when a 34-23 Fairmont lead midway through the third quarter was trimmed to 36-34 when Jashontae Harris hit a 3 with 7:40 to go, the thought of the game 18 days prior did come to mind on the Fairmont side.

“Did it cross my mind when (Harris) came down and hit that 3? Yes it did,” Fairmont coach Marcus Thompson said. “But there was a few things that I didn’t do that I should have done at St. Pauls, and one thing was I saved timeouts, that was a big thing I didn’t do. And two, you’ve got to run something at (Harris), you’ve got to pick her up, and I felt (on Feb. 6) like we got so relaxed we were letting her walk into 3s.”

St. Pauls’ 11-2 run to close the gap to two points included six straight free throws late in the third, with two each from a trio of Bulldogs, before Harris’ triple on the first possession of the fourth.

“We wanted to play a little up-tempo, drive a little bit, see if the refs were going to make that call,” St. Pauls coach Jaymar Thompson said of the run. “We know they’re an aggressive team, so we were trying to use that to our advantage. We hit some (free throws), but we missed some at the wrong time.”

But Fairmont outscored St. Pauls 19-8 from that point, building its lead back up to earn the victory. The Golden Tornadoes did so with an approach not of protection, but aggression.

“I told everybody, we’re down 10 points, even though we wasn’t,” Simms said. “We’ve got to stay humble, and we can’t get big-headed. Because at their place, we got too big-headed and that’s how we blew that lead. So we just had to stay humble and everything.”

Miah Smith hit a layup with 6:48 left to begin Fairmont’s fourth-quarter surge; a possession later, twin Niah Smith hit a 3 for a 41-34 lead. After free throw makes for each side, Zariah Locklear and Niah Smith hit baskets for a 46-36 lead with 4:18 to go.

St. Pauls closed to 48-42 after two baskets by Zalaya Gardner and a putback by Zakoreya Davis with 2:03 remaining. But Fairmont ended the game on a 7-0 run, sparked by a sequence including a Myasia Simms layup followed by a steal and layup from Miah Smith for a 52-42 lead with 1:42 on the clock.

“We had to work together,” Miah Smith said. “We can’t rush. We had to stay consistent with what we were doing.”

St. Pauls, meanwhile, was held to three field goals after the Harris 3 and did not score the last 2:03.

“A couple weeks ago (against Fairmont) we made shots, and (tonight) the ball just didn’t fall,” Jaymar Thompson said. “Free throws wouldn’t fall in, the ball wouldn’t fall in and we made some turnovers at the wrong time. That was the difference from the last one to this one.”

Taniya Simms had 20 points, 17 rebounds, five blocks and three assists for Fairmont; Miah Smith scored 11 points with six rebounds and five steals, Niah Smith had nine points and five assists and Locklear scored nine points with seven rebounds.

Harris and Zhariana Shipman each scored 12 points to lead St. Pauls, Gardner had eight points with seven rebounds and Davis scored six points with 12 rebounds.

The game was back-and-forth early, with five ties over the first 11 minutes; St. Pauls led 9-8 after the first quarter. Fairmont closed the first half on an 11-3 run to take a 27-19 halftime lead. Taniya Simms had 14 first-half points, including 10 in the second quarter featuring two made 3-pointers.

“The amount of reps that she’s gotten up this week, since Saturday, is unreal,” Marcus Thompson said. “That’s why it wasn’t really — it doesn’t bother me when you’re shooting the ball if you’re putting in that many reps.”

The Golden Tornadoes led 29-23 before a layup by Locklear and a 3 moments later by Taniya Simms gave Fairmont its 34-23 lead with 5:06 left in the third.

Both teams now shift their attention to the state playoffs, where both reached the third round last year. Fairmont will be seeded with the other conference champions from around the region, and as of late Friday was a projected No. 6 seed, according to HighSchoolOT.

“We’ve got to stay in the gym, we’ve got to stay committed,” Taniya Simms said. “We’re trying to get a ring this year, and the only way to do that is we’ve got to stay committed, stay consistent.”

St. Pauls will earn an at-large bid as a middle seed, projected as a No. 16.

“I believe in my team — we’re not a 13 seed in my eyes, so I don’t think anybody’s going to want to see us as a 13 seed,” Jaymar Thompson said. “We’d love to have those home games, but it’s just how the ball laid out today. We’re just going to roll with it, one game at a time now, you lose and go home, so we’re going to try to win and survive, win and advance.”