Pineville looked in control of Monday’s game heading into halftime. Leading Bell County by 10, the Lady Lions seemed poised to defeat their in-county rival. The Lady Cats had other plans as they used a second-half surge to shift the momentum. A few costly mistakes down the stretch was Pineville’s downfall as Bell County defeated the Lady Lions 54-50.

In the final minutes of the game, it was Bell County’s guard play that helped secure the victory. The Lady Cats used an 11-4 run to take control of the game with the guards attributing eight of those points.

“It was a good win for us. We didn’t play particularly well in the first half, but the kids kept battling and stayed focused in,” said Bell coach David Teague. “We changed some things up defensively, and I thought it affected (Pineville) at times. We came up with some big steals and got a few big stops when we needed them. I am proud of the way our kids kept fighting.”

Abby Harris led Bell County with a game-high 21 points while going 10-for-16 from the charity stripe. Sara Kidwell came off the bench and provided 14 points while hitting four 3-pointers. Senior Brea Browning finished the night with seven points.

“We didn’t shoot the ball overly well for the game, but we took care of the ball and gave ourselves a chance at some good looks,” said Teague about the team’s offensive performance. “We only had one turnover for the game, and that’s huge in a game like that.”

For Pineville, it was a tough pill to swallow after leading for three-fourths of the game.

“I think we beat ourselves more at the end. We had some that hid from a pressure situation. Instead of coming to the ball and helping with the pressure, we just kind of ran from it,” said Pineville coach Jamie Mills. “We’ve got to do better. We will learn from it, but in tough situations we’ve got to get to the basketball.”

Whitney Caldwell led the charge for Pineville scoring a team-high 2o points while shooting 77 percent from the free-throw line. Raigan King tallied 13 points during the game. Summer Partin finished with five.

It was the second half when Bell County began to make their move. With Pineville holding a 31-21 lead early in the third, Harris and Kidwell scored on back-to-back possession to cut the lead to single digits (31-25).

After a layup by Halle Jones, Kidwell nailed a three moments before Harris scored on a free throw to narrow the margin to 33-29. Caldwell halted Bell’s momentum for a moment after hitting a free throw to temporarily increase the lead to five (34-29).

The two teams went even in the final 2:55 of the quarter with Pineville holding a slim 38-33 lead.

Bell and Pineville swapped baskets early in the fourth with the Lady Lions’ lead staying at five points. At the 2:30 mark, Kidwell hit a big 3-pointer that lowered the deficit to 45-43 and forced Pineville to take a timeout.

Coming out of the break, Caldwell scored on a free throw before Browning hit a layup to narrow the lead to one (46-45).

A layup from King pushed the Lady Lion lead to 48-45. The momentum quickly shifted at that moment.

A free throw from Browning sparked an 8-0 run that allowed Bell County to take the lead. A steal and layup by Ashtyn Meyers capped the run giving the Lady Cats a 53-48 lead.

A layup from King cut the deficit to three, but Bell County’s Harris hit a free throw with 1.2 seconds remaining in the game to secure the four-point victory.

Up Next

Bell County (12-15) hosted Red Bird (3-22) on Tuesday.

Pineville (16-11) traveled to Corbin (12-14) on Tuesday.