NEWPORT — The Stevens High girls basketball team’s game plan was simple: Put two or three defenders on Newport center Zoey Lord and let the others shoot from 3-point territory.

While Lord scored 14 points, she was hounded inside all night long, and that set the table for the No. 14-seeded Cardinals to upset the No. 3-ranked Tigers, 36-27, in a first-round game of the NHIAA Division III basketball playoffs at Wheeler Gym on Wednesday night.

“We tried not to let Lord hurt us,” said first-year Stevens coach Gabe Ferland. “She still got her buckets, but I thought we did a decent job keeping her off the glass. That was pretty much what we practiced for this week.”

Stevens got on the board first on a layup by Audrina Pelton, who scored the first six Stevens points. Newport would answer and went up 8-7 on a Brooklyn Ranney 3-pointer that was answered by a three from Cardinal junior Lily Eagan and a pair of foul shots by freshman Bailey Morin, giving Stevens a 12-11 to close out the first quarter.

The visitors built an eight-point lead, 19-11, in the second quarter on a bank shot by Morin and a three by Peyton Ferland, followed by a steal and a pass to Ferland for a fast-break layup. Newport, meanwhile, was shooting unsuccessfully from beyond the arc, hitting just one of 10 tries in the quarter. Stevens went into the locker room at halftime up 22-15 after another three by Morin.

After the game, Ferland agreed that the absence of Newport’s top scorer, Taylor Fellows, whose season ended with a knee injury earlier this month, was a factor for Newport.

“You can’t lose a kid like that and not have it affect you,” Ferland said. “She is one of the best players in the division. It is tough anytime you lose a player like that, especially at the end when you need a bucket.”

Ferland liked what he saw from Morin, who hit some key buckets and led Stevens with 11 points. Pelton had seven points for the Cards, and Olivia St. Aubin and Ferland finished with five each.

“We know they can do it, and tonight they did,” Ferland said.

Stevens extended its lead to 34-20 after three quarters, starting with a three by Morin, a couple of free throws and buckets by Isabella Bovell, St. Aubin and freshman Gabby Rheaume. A layup by St. Aubin, the Cardinals’ only score in the fourth quarter, pushed the lead to 36-20.

Newport tried to claw its way back into the game on the back of Lord. She had a layup, then another with a follow-up foul shot, then two more free throws. Newport was within nine points with three minutes left but got no closer.

Stevens then spread its offense around the perimeter to control the ball as the clock wound down.

“Stevens came to play,” said Newport coach Ross Dole after the game. “They shut down Zoey with two or three people on her the whole game. We struggled to match their intensity. They played really hard the whole game. We did at the end, but it was too little, too late.”

Newport finishes the year at 15-4 and will graduate seven players. Stevens, which lost to Newport twice during the regular season, moves on to play at No. 6 Prospect Mountain, (14-4), a winner over 11th-seeded Belmont on Wednesday, in a Saturday quarterfinal game in Alton, N.H.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.