PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Sophomore Hailey Morrison impressed her coach in limited action against Belton. The post scored four fourthquarter points and collected four rebounds. The Lady Badgers play well enough to win.

Problem is they do it only in spurts.

Lampasas had chances late in its road game with Belton but could not capitalize. The Lady Badgers missed key free throws, turned the ball over and gave up open shots as the Lady Tigers held on for a 52-44 victory.

But it could have been worse.

After scoring just 16 points in the first half and waiting until 3:30 remained in the third quarter before connecting on their first field goal of the period, the Lady Badgers exploded for 15 points to climb back from a double-digit deficit.

Then it slipped away.

“I felt good [for] about 10 minutes of this game,” head coach Stuart Beckwith said. “The first half and most of the third quarter, we stunk. We just absolutely wouldn’t execute.

“Then, for some reason, someone hit the light switch, and we executed for about eight or 10 minutes and then in the last two or three minutes, we panicked again. All we had to do was execute for the last [couple of] minutes and instead of doing that, we panicked.”

Lampasas fell behind by 17 points, 33-16, following Belton’s 10-point unanswered outburst to start the third quarter.

Senior Lauren Barlow connected on a pair of free throws to snap the streak before junior Kallen Vann ignited a spark by hitting the first field goal of the half.

Vann assisted on the Lady Badgers’ next two shots, and Lampasas worked its way to within six points by the end of the quarter. The team connected on six of seven shots from the field in the period.

Hailey Morrison collected an offensive rebound and scored on a putback late in the fourth quarter to bring the Lady Badgers within three points at 43-40.

But Belton responded by scoring nine of the game’s final 13 points to secure the victory.

Morrison finished with four points, all in the fourth quarter, and four rebounds.

“She is athletic; she is very athletic,” Beckwith said of the sophomore.

Barlow scored a game-high 16 points and added five rebounds. Kayla Prescott came off the bench to score nine for the Lady Badgers.

Senior Sarah Bishop led the team in rebounds with seven, and junior Madison Morris grabbed six to help give Lampasas a 27-25 advantage on the boards.

The Lady Badgers (3-6) are on a four-game losing streak, and the road does not get any easier.

Lampasas plays Brock -- the topranked Class 2A team in the state -- at noon today in the opening round of the Burnet tournament. Win or lose, the Lady Badgers play again at 4:30 p.m. before wrapping up their stint in the tournament Saturday.

*** Both subvarsity teams lost to Belton.