J.R. Tidwell/FCT Nick Miller (34) of Belgreen defends against Kaleb Suggs (14) of Colbert Heights Monday night in Belgreen.

BELGREEN — The Belgreen Bulldogs faced off against the Colbert Heights Wildcats, a familiar opponent, Monday.

Belgreen won by a 23-point margin at 63-40, but that gap was much smaller throughout the opening two quarters.

The Bulldogs scored first, but the two teams swapped baskets in the first half.

The first quarter ended in a 10-10 tie, and the Wildcats did take a 14-12 lead early in the second quarter, but one of several threes by Belgreen put it back in front.

The lead changed hands four times in the second quarter before the Bulldogs went into halftime with a 28-18 advantage.

“Our zone defense helped us out in the second,” Belgreen head coach Greg Watson said. “The biggest thing is we had some other guys step up tonight. As the season goes by we have to have guys step up.”

The 18-8 run Belgreen had in the second quarter set up a solid second half for the Bulldogs, who outscored Colbert Heights 35-22 after the break.

Solid shooting by Brock Hester and Chase Landers helped put Belgreen up in the contest, and the Wildcats had more and more difficulty on offense as the night progressed.

Colbert Heights played Belgreen close in the first half, but by the time three minutes remained in the match the Bulldogs were resting all of their starters.

“I looked at my assistant coach in the fourth quarter and said are we really up by this much,” Watson said. They didn’t shoot well in the second half.”

Nick Miller led Belgreen in points with 16. Hester and Lander’s 12 points were next in the game. Hester also had five rebounds and Landers had three.

Dustin Smith and Josh DeVaney had 8 points each, with Smith pulling down five boards and DeVaney nine.

Also scoring for the Bulldogs were: Jared Mitchell (3), Dakotah Leverett (3) and Dakota Davis (2).

Things did not go quite so well for the Belgreen Lady Bulldogs in the previous match, as they fell to the Lady Wildcats 44-34 after a hard-fought contest just three days after being defeated by area and county rival Vina.

“We didn’t shoot well tonight, and we were a little lackluster on defense,” Belgreen head coach Richie Hester said. “We hustled in the second half, but we didn’t get the breaks in the second half.”

The Lady Bulldogs had the lead for most of the first quarter before falling behind 11-9 at the end of the first period.

Neither team got much going offensively in the second, but a 13-7 run by Colbert Heights gave it the advantage at intermission by a score of 24-16.

The Lady Bulldogs closed the gap in the third quarter by outscoring the Lady Wildcats 10-9, but Colbert Heights ended strong with a 11-8 run that sealed the victory for them.

“We’re still not getting a full team effort,” Hester said. “We are young, and we’re still trying to get used to playing together. We’re in kind of a rut that we need to get out of, but a win would probably get us back on track.”

Laken Bragwell led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 12 points in the game. She also had eight rebounds and three blocks. Allyson Bragwell added 7 points, four rebounds and one block, while Lexie Bragwell contributed 5 points and three rebounds.

Also scoring for Belgreen were: Abby Hester (5), Mollie Hester (4) and Dainera Miller (1).

— stats kept by Jeremy Reed