By Brannon King

For the FCT

The Belgreen Lady Bulldogs used a strong second quarter to pull away from the Vina Lady Red Devils and pick up a big area win by a score of 68-47.

The victory improves Belgreen’s record to 9-1 overall and 3-1 in the area.

The Lady Red Devils used the home court advantage early on and only trailed by one at the end of the first quarter.

Morgan Humphres and Fallyn Shotts combined to score all of the first quarter Vina points, while Lexie Bragwell and Allyson Bragwell kept Belgreen ahead early on.

The second period belonged to Belgreen. Five Lady Bulldogs scored in the second and they were led by Laken Bragwell and Jasmine Martin this time.

The two proved to be a strong force with Bragwell scoring under the basket while Martin made shots from the outside giving Belgreen a 40-23 lead at the half.

Despite the large deficit, Vina never gave up and continued playing hard. The Lady Red Devils were only outscored 11-9 in the third quarter and 17-15 in the fourth.

The final period saw Vina pick up a technical foul followed by a couple of hard fouls that resulted in extra free throw opportunities for Belgreen and possession of the ball.

Belgreen was led in scoring by Lexie Bragwell’s 16 points. She was followed by Jasmine Martin with 14 and Allyson Bragwell with 11.

A total of ten Lady Bulldogs scored in the game. Laken Bragwell had seven points followed by Hanna Taylor (5), Breanna Wood (5), Brooke Williams (3), Hannah Taylor (3), Emma Riley (2) and Alex Miller (2). Abby Hester failed to score but set up the offense from the point-guard position and helped on the defensive end of the floor.

Vina’s leading scorer was Fallyn Shotts with 16 points. The Lady Red Devils also got contributions from Miranda Howard (11), Morgan Humphres (11), Taylor Tucker (5), Samantha Hayes (2) and Cassandra Spencer (2).

Belgreen head coach Richie Hester was pleased with his team.

“That was a big win because it makes us 3-1 in the area,” Hester said.

“They kind of took some of our shooting away from us early, so we took the ball to the goal. When they stopped that, we started back shooting.

The young Belgreen team hopes that by playing together as a group, good things will continue to come.