ASKEWVILLE – The Lady Warriors of Ahoskie Christian School refused to go quietly into the good night.

Despite suffering a 52-30 setback to Coastal Christian School in the opening round of the North Carolina Christian Athletic Conference state playoffs, the seventh-seeded Lady Eagles put up a close fight through the first two and a half quarters.

Trailing 26-17 after the intermission, the Lady Warriors scored the first six points of the second half. Dyani Hall hit back-to-back buckets for the Lady Warriors while Jess Harrell added a bucket to close the gap to 26-23.

Coastal responded with a hoop by junior Katherine Freshwater and then Margaret Glasgow and Caroline Austin had back-to-back buckets to push Coastal ahead 32-23.

A free throw from Ahoskie’s Sarah Calderado closed the gap back to eight, but Coastal scored the next six points in a row to pull away. Shelby Smith had consecutive hoops for the Lady Centurions and then Grace Diepenbrock added a score to put Coastal ahead 35-24.

Bridget Babb toed the line for the Lady Warriors and hit both shots to close the gap to 38-26, but that was as close as they got. Glasgow hit a three-pointer to close the third quarter and put Coastal ahead 41-26.

Glasgow scored again to open the fourth quarter and then Ali Duncan scored. The Lady Warriors missed an opportunity to close the gap at the line, but Calderado had back-to-back hoops to get ACS within 45-30.

Casey Snyder started a 7-0 spurt for Coastal to end the game with the Lady Centurions claiming a 22-point win.

Ahoskie’s effort was led by Calderado’s nine points and six each from Hall and Hali Perry. Harrell chipped in four points while Babb and Casey Grant had two each. Jessica Simmons had one point.

Coastal was paced by 13 from Duncan while Diepenbrock, Smith and Glasgow had seven each. Logan Thorpe added six.

In the first quarter, Coastal jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Hall got the Eagles on the board. The second-seeded club then scored four more before Grant closed the gap to 8-4. Duncan and Perry exchanged hoops and then Duncan scored before the first quarter ended to give Coastal a 12-6 lead.

Perry got the first bucket of the second quarter, but a 5-0 run for Coastal helped them grab a 17-8 lead. Calderado responded with her first hoop of the game and later in the quarter Harrell and Perry had back-to-back hoops to close the gap to 19-14.

A late first half surge helped Coastal take a 26-17 edge into the locker room

Ahoskie played in the consolation bracket on Friday against Temple Christian School. Results of that game will appear in Tuesday’s edition.