Staff Report

Even though their losing streak reached four games with two losses over the weekend, the Bell County Lady Cats battled hard against two of the top teams on their schedule as they fell 67-65 in double-overtime last Friday against Southwestern in the Rocket Classic at Rockcastle County and 88-63 last Saturday at South Laurel in the Roy Bowling Classic.

“I was extremely proud of the kids’ effort,” Bell County coach David Teague said. “Southwestern is one of the top teams in the 12th Region, and we battled them toe to toe for 40 minutes. We came up short but had several kids step up and do some good things.”

Gracie Wilder scored 21 points to lead the Lady Cats against Southwestern. Lauren McGeorge and Kairi Lamb added 20 and 15 points, respectively. Neveah Allen scored two, while Kylee Greer-Gann chipped in with two.

Bell County trailed by only at halftime on Saturday before South pulled away in the second half.

“We battled well for about three quarters and just completely ran out of gas,” Teague said. “South Laurel has a very good basketball team, and when you start making mistakes a game can get away from you quickly. We’ve had a tough stretch. We just have to keep working and pushing to be better. ”

Wilder led Bell County with 25 points. Lamb added 23 points, and McGeorge scored 13.

The 11-8 Lady Cats play host to Middlesboro in a girls/boys doubleheader on Thursday.