ASKEWVILLE – A fourth quarter rally came up short.

Bethel Christian Academy, who trailed by as much as 16, closed the gap to four late in the final period, but Coastal Christian High School held on for a 39-27 victory.

The Lady Eagles trailed 29-16 heading into the final quarter, but began their comeback early into the period.

Kelsey Conner started the comeback with a three-pointer that closed the gap to 10. Moments later, Autumn Ginn found the bottom of the net. She was followed in quick order by Elizabeth Farmer. When Charitee Dunlow scored midway through the period, Bethel had closed the gap to 29-25.

Unfortunately, it was there the Lady Eagles ran out of gas as Coastal Christian got a free throw from Grace Diepenbrock and a three-point play by Hannah Jessen to go back ahead 34-25.The visitors then got back-to-back hoops from Jessen and Ali Duncan as they pulled ahead 38-25.

Megan Simons finally broke the streak with a free throw, but it was the last point for the Lady Eagles as they fell 39-27.

Simons and Farmer led the Lady Eagles with eight points each while Conner contributed seven. Dunlow and Ginn had two each.

Coastal was paced by Duncan’s nine points and seven each from Margaret Glasgow and Jessen.

In the first quarter of the contest, it was all Coastal as they raced out to a 7-0 lead. Three different Centurions scored to account for the lead. It was eventually 9-0 before Simons scored early in the second quarter. Bethel rallied to close within 13-8, but Coastal took a 17-8 lead into the intermission.

Coastal outscored Bethel 12-8 in the third quarter to establish their 29-16 advantage.

Bethel fell to 7-15 overall with the loss while Coastal improved to 12-4.