AHOSKIE – A light went on somewhere.

Hertford County High School’s varsity girls were trailing 8-3 early in their non-conference affair with Northampton County High School – East here Friday night. Then something changed. The Lady Bears went on a 24-7 run over the remainder of the first half and cruised to a 49-33 basketball win.

Having scored just one bucket over the opening minutes of the game, the Lady Bears finally got going when Briante Bond scored from the free throw line then added a three-pointer before Raqueta Moore gave the Bears a lead with a hoop late in the period.

Northampton-East responded with a Patrice Williams bucket to lead 10-9 after one quarter.

HCHS really got going in the second quarter when Bond started things off with back-to-back buckets. She was answered by a Williams hoop, but Hertford County scored the next eight points – off two scores from Moore and one each from Camryn Jones and Shaniece Futrell – to take a 21-12 lead.

Alexis Shoulders stopped the run with a triple that got the Lady Rams within six (21-15), but the Lady Bears scored the final six points of the first half – two each from Moore, Bond and Olivia Edwards – to lead 27-15 at the intermission.

Neither team scored during the opening 59 seconds of the third period, but Deondra Morrison got the Lady Bears on the board to take a 29-15 edge. After Williams responded for East, HCHS got back-to-back buckets from Futrell and Moore to surge ahead 33-17.

East responded with consecutive hoops from Williams and Ashley Boyce as part of a 9-2 run that got them back within single digits (35-26). Nikki Peebles had a three for the Lady Rams and Williams added another pair of free throws.

The Lady Bears responded with a 6-0 spurt of their own as Bond scored twice and Edwards hit a field goal to make it 41-26 after three quarters of play.

After the Bears scored the first hoop of the fourth quarter, Williams had a pair of free throws and a field goal followed by a hoop from Brittany Boone that got the Lady Rams within 43-32 with 4:23 to play.

Bond scored from the free throw line, Jones hit a hoop and then Danielle Futrell and Shaniece Futrell hit free throws to preserve the victory.

“We played a lot better than in our first game,” said second-year Head Coach Diego Hasty. “We got better rebounding and not as many turnovers.

“We got a lot more contributions from everyone, but that was expected” he continued. “We didn’t have much practice time before our first game.”

Hasty said he was pleased with freshmen Camryn Jones and Shaniece Futrell and their contributions Friday.

Overall, the Bears were led by Bond’s 17 points and Moore’s 15. Williams led Northampton-East with 14.

Early in the game it was all Rams as the visitors scored six of the first seven points. Williams, Peebles and Boyce had scores on the run. They eventually