PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lampasas post Lauren Barlow (34) has her shot blocked during the Lady Badgers’ loss at Leander Tuesday. Unfortunately for Lampasas, the losing streak continues.

The Lady Badgers lost their third consecutive game Tuesday evening at Leander, falling by 23 points at 59-36. The defeat was Lampasas’ ninth in its last 10 games, and it drops the team’s road record to 1-7. Excluding tournaments, the Lady Badgers are 0-5 outside of Lampasas.

In Leander, the Lady Lions did not provide the warmest of welcomes.

The home team leaped out to a 17-8 advantage by the end of the opening period.

Despite Lampasas posting its best offensive quarter of the game (10 points on four-of-15 shooting), the Lady Lions increased their lead to 30-18 by halftime.

Then the wheels came off.

Lampasas connected on just five of its 24 second-half shots, while Leander put together runs of 9-0, 10-2 and 9-0 to put the game out of reach.

Hailey Morrison tries to maintain her balance after pulling down a rebound. The sophomore post finished with three points and five rebounds. Led by senior guard Sierra Nevels’ game-high 21 points (10- 17 FG), which included 11 in the fourth quarter, the Lady Lions hit half their 52 field-goal attempts and went three of eight from behind the 3-point arc.

With less than five minutes left in the game, Lampasas showed signs of life, scoring eight of the game’s final 12 points. But it was too little too late, and the Lady Badgers dropped to 4-11 on the season.

Kayla Prescott (3-10 FG) and Lauren Barlow (4-10 FG) shared team-high scoring honors with a dozen points apiece.

Only three other players -- Madison Morris, Kalyn Urofsky and Hailey Morrison -- produced points for the Lady Badgers, who shot 12 of 45 from the floor. The rest of the team combined to miss 13 shots.

Things were not much better at the free-throw line, where the team missed 11 of its 21 attempts.

Defensively, the Lady Lions were dominant, recording 11 steals and six blocks, while forcing 19 Lampasas turnovers.

The Lady Badgers had a solid evening on the boards, however, collecting 24 to Leander’s 28.

Barlow and Morrison each finished with five rebounds. Morris and Sarah Bishop pulled down four apiece.

Tonight, Lampasas has one last opportunity to rebound from its losing skid before breaking from competition for nearly two weeks.

The Lady Badgers travel to Marlin tonight for a 6:30 p.m. start.

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The Lady Badgers’ subvarsity teams split their games at Leander.

Despite Megan Mason’s gamehigh 14 points, the junior varsity fell six points shy of picking up a victory, losing 33-27.

Mason was only two of 10 from the field, but she hit 10 of her 16 free throws. The sophomore also posted team-highs with eight rebounds and three assists.

The freshmen improved their record by beating the Lady Lions 33-30.

Lampasas’ freshmen are off until they open district competition against Hutto on Jan. 5.

The JV squad will join the varsity Lady Badgers in Marlin tonight with tipoff set for 5 p.m.