No. 7 Cottage Hill outscored Providence Christian 27-8 in the second and third quarters to turn an early deficit into a Class 3A South Region semifinal romp on Friday night at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery.

Final score: Cottage Hill 49, Providence Christian 33.

“We were a little nerve wracked to start,” Warriors coach Adam Thomas said. “The lights were really bright for some of them. We have some who have been here before, but three in the rotation have not. I think that played a huge factor in that first part of the game. Once we settled into the game, then we were able to play.”

RELATED: See Friday’s final scores, highlights

After trailing 10-1 in the first quarter, Cottage Hill went on a 42-10 run. The Warriors extended a 20-15 halftime led to 35-18 after three quarters. They led by 23 on two occasions – the last time at 43-20 midway through the fourth.

“We switched our defense,” Thomas said of the change. “We wanted to play them in a man. That is what we’ve worked hard on, but their shots posed some problems for us, so we switched to our extended 2-3 and matched them up a little bit and that caused some problems for them.”

Cottage Hill forced 22 Providence turnovers. Kaden Washam scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the final quarter to lead a balanced Warrior scoring effort. Shadrick Toodle and Clay Scofield each scored 9. Shadarius Toodle and Caleb Metzner each had 6 to round out the scoring.

Providence Christian (24-6) had just one player in double figures – Powell Phillips with 12.

Cottage Hill improved to 20-10 with the win and will play No. 7 Hillcrest-Evergreen at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday for the right to play in the final four in Birmingham. It will be the second meeting between the two teams this year. The Warriors beat Hillcrest 64-46 in the Robertsdale Thanksgiving tournament on Nov. 17.

“It’s someone we are familiar with,” Thomas said. “We played them early in the year, but this will be a different game. We know it will be a tough one. They’ve been really good down the stretch. We’ll be ready.”