ELIZABETH CITY – A second half rally came up just short.

Hertford County High School’s varsity girls used a 10-0 spurt in the third and fourth quarters to get as close as two points down here Friday night, but eventually fell to Northeastern High School 60-53 in a Northeastern Coastal Conference contest.

The Lady Bears trailed 44-32 late in the third quarter when they reeled off 10 unanswered points. Amber Moore started the late surge with a hoop that was followed by a bucket from Shaniece Futrell at the 3:01 mark of the third period.

Briante Bond – who led the Lady Bears with 16 points – then scored the next six points in a row to get Hertford County to within two (44-42) at the 6:20 mark of the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for the Lady Bears, that was as close as they would come. Gina Jordan rolled off back-to-back buckets for Northeastern as the Lady Eagles pushed their advantage back to six (48-42).

After an HCHS free throw, Jordan and Gabby Griffin hit consecutive shots to give the lady Eagles a 52-43 advantage. The Lady Bears got as close as eight twice in the final three minutes, but never could overcome the deficit.

In addition to Bond’s double-digit performance, the Lady Bears got nine points each from Futrell, Camryn Jones and Jalessa Chinn. Raqueta Moore added four while Amber Moore, Olivia Edwards and Deondra Morrison had two each.

Darian Cole led the Lady Eagles with 18 points while Jordan had 17 and Jasmine Nixon contributed 14 points.

In the first half, Northeastern jumped out to a huge lead – going ahead by 20 (35-15) on a Cole bucket with 2:01 remaining in the first half. The Lady Bears, however, scored the final 10 points of the first half to close the gap to 10 by the intermission.

Chinn, Jones and Bond all scored on the spurt to get the Lady Bears within 35-25. Raqueta Moore scored the first hoop of the second half as Hertford County closed within single digits (35-27).

The Lady Bears got as close as eight before their late third quarter run that closed them to within two.

The loss dropped Hertford County to 6-12 overall and 3-6 in league play. They will look to bounce back Friday when they host Pasquotank County High School