AHOSKIE – It certainly got interesting before it was over.

Halifax Academy seemed to be cruising to victory with an eight-point advantage midway through the final period of the girl’s basketball contest with Ridgecroft School Wednesday night.

Then Emily Revelle and Caitlin Harrison hit back-to-back three pointers, the last one coming with 3:20 to play and the contest was a dead heat at 39-37.

Halifax, however, scored the next 12 points and went on to a 51-37 victory in the non-conference affair.

Jodi Williams, a returning All-State player for Halifax, scored eight of her game-high 21 points over the final three minutes to secure the victory for her team.

Ridgecroft took the early lead in the contest when Bardin Murray and Emily Cooke hit back-to-back hoops at the start of the game. Williams and Ashley Sawyer countered for Halifax to deadlock the score.

Jessica Bolton, the Lady Rams’ leading scorer with seven points, gave Ridgecroft a 6-4 lead when she scored near the end of the first period.

Both teams got going on offense in the second period. Cooke hit consecutive hoops to push Ridgecroft ahead 10-4, but Williams had the next five points and Brittany Bowser also scored to push the Lady Vikings ahead 11-10.

The Lady Rams briefly regained the lead when Bolton buried a three-pointer, but Halifax scored the next eight points, six of which were scored by Bowser, as they took a 19-13 advantage.

April Piland hit a three-pointer for Ridgecroft to get them within 19-16 at the intermission.

The Lady Vikings tried to pull away as they opened the third quarter on a 7-2 run interrupted only by a deuce from Murray, but Ridgecroft came back on a 7-2 run of their own to get within 28-25.

Tayler Smith led the spurt with five points.

Erin Fortier hit a hoop for Halifax to push their lead to 31-25 after three quarters.

Harrison and Revelle sandwiched three-pointers around a six-point run for Halifax before Williams scored to make it 39-31.

Ridgecroft (1-2) played without senior Hayes Bryant, who is day-to-day with a foot injury.

The Lady Rams will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Bear Grass.

Lady Vikings (51): Jodi Williams n 21, Brittany Bowser n 17, Brittany Hamill n 4, Erin Fortier n 3, Sarah Long n 2, Ashley Sawyer n 2, Erin Smith n 2

Lady Rams (37): Jessica Bolton n 7, Emily Revelle n 6, Emily Cooke n 6, Caitlin Harrison n 6, Tayler Smith n 5, Bardin Murray n 4, April Piland – 3