ASKEWVILLE – Last time the Lady Eagles met one of the teams with which they were tied, they edged Gramercy by two points.

Friday night, they met Coastal Christian who was also undefeated in league play. This time it was the visiting team that grabbed a two-point victory as the Lady Centurions edged Bethel 40-38.

Elizabeth Farmer and Kelsie Conner scored 14 points each for the home-team Eagles, but it wasn’t enough to lift Bethel to the win on Homecoming Night in Askewville. Conner, however, completed a double-double performance with 11 rebounds.

Coastal came out of the gate quickly, getting a hoop from Shelby Smith and a three-pointer from Hannah Jessen as they led 5-0.

Jessica Howerton stopped the spurt with a bucket for the Eagles and then Conner added a free throw to close the gap to 5-3.

After a Nicki Huntley hoop for Coastal, Conner had a free throw and field goal back-to-back to get within one (7-6).

An exchange of hoops left the score that way, but Farmer had the final bucket of the first quarter to give Bethel its first lead at 10-9.

The Lady Centurions, however, scored five of the first seven points of the second quarter to take a 14-12 advantage.

The Lady Eagles, however, received a score from Kristen Adams as they tied it at 14-all.

Coastal pushed ahead by three thanks to a Jessen bucket and Grace Diepenblack free throw, but Farmer erased the deficit with a three-pointer that tied the at 17-all.

Coastal had a 4-0 run thanks to hoops from Ali Duncan and Lauren Duncan, but Howerton and Adams did the same for Bethel to tie the game again, this time at 21-all.

A Lauren Duncan field goal before the intermission gave the Centurions a 23-21 halftime lead.

Farmer scored the first bucket of the second half to tie the game, but Coastal rolled off eight of the next 10 points to take a 31-25 lead.

Conner, however, scored from the free throw line to stop the spurt and then Farmer had back-to-back scores to close the gap to 31-30.

Jessen, however, put a dagger through the comeback with a three-pointer just before the quarter ended to give Coastal a 34-30 lead.

Jessen hit another triple to start the fourth quarter as Coastal edged ahead 37-30.

Bethel, however, got a free throw each from Farmer and Conner and a hoop from Conner to close the gap to 37-34.

Lauren Duncan stopped the spurt with a field goal, but Conner hit two from the free throw line and Farmer scored again to close the gap to 39-38 with 1:25 to play.

Duncan then hit 1-of-2 from the line to give the Centurions a two-point edge (40-38) with 25 seconds to play.

The Eagles had possession, but turned the ball over and Coastal kept the ball away from the Bethel defense to run out the clock.

Bethel suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season as they dropped to 17-4 overall and 6-1 in the North Carolina Christian Athletic Conference.

The Lady Eagles will be back in action tonight (Tuesday) when they host a PinkZone game against Pungo Christian Academy. As part of the night, survivors of breast cancer will be acknowledged.