As was often the case last season, the West Memphis Lady Devils' fortunes are directly tied to the amount of minutes played by center Tiera Bradley.

On Thursday night at Lehr Arena, that long-held belief was upheld, and then some.

For the first time in her career, the 6-foot-3 Bradley played all 32 minutes and led the Lady Devils to a 55-43 victory over North Little Rock.

Bradley led all scorers with 15 points, which included her first three-pointer of the season, and grabbed 14 rebounds to go along with numerous blocked shots.

"T-Baby was the key to us winning," said Lady Devils head coach Shelia Burns. "North Little Rock had two good big girls out there, and we knew that as long as she was in the game we were in good shape. She was great on the boards."

In pushing their early-season record to 3-0, the Lady Devils ran out to a sizable lead and then watched North Little Rock (1-3) seize the lead before the hosts began the fourth quarter with a strong push to take the lead for good.

West Memphis, which hadn't beaten North Little Rock since 2014, led 11-8 after one quarter, but used a balanced attack to start the second stanza in opening up a 21-11 lead with 3:54 to play before halftime behind two free throws by Terika Inmon and a drive to the goal from senior point guard Aryah Hazley.

The Lady Devils led 25-18 at halftime, but lost the lead immediately in the opening minutes of the third quarter after Hazley, who scored 10 points, was whistled for her third foul. She exited for the rest of the third quarter.

During that time, the Lady Devils suffered costly turnovers and saw the Lady Charging 'Cats score the final seven points of the stanza to take a 35-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

"I wasn't worried, I was mad," Burns said. "We have so many guards, but we couldn't do anything. I told them to slow down and just get the ball past the halfcourt line."

North Little Rock's Arin Freeman sank a layup 10 seconds into the fourth quarter to give the visitors their biggest lead of the game at 37-32.

But it was their last lead.

The Lady Devils used a 13-1 run from there to claim a 45-38 lead with 4:43 still to play.

North Little Rock countered Bradley's presence with 6-4 sophomore Amauri Williams, who paced her team with 14 points, and 5-10 sophomore Destine Duckworth, who added 9.

"I think T-Baby staying in the game wore out those two big girls for North Little Rock," said Burns.

The closest North Little Rock could get from there was 45-41, but a layup from Hazley, a bank shot by Rhianna Bedford and two more free throws from Hazley cinched the game for West Memphis, making it 51-41 with just 1:23 to play.

Janiya Tucker and Inmon each added 8 points for the Lady Devils while Bedford rang up 6 points and Cortasia Hollins scored 4 before leaving the game with a sore knee in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Devils play at Jacksonville on Tuesday before playing in the Great 8 Tournament in Rogers Dec. 5-7.