Lady Badgers guard Kayla Prescott pushes the ball down the court against Marble Falls. The junior scored 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers to go with three steals. It took the Lady Badgers several seasons to snap their district losing streak, but it took less than a week to start a winning one.

After going without a district victory since the 2007 season, the Lampasas varsity girls’ basketball team broke the drought by defeating Lake Travis on the road last Friday evening.

On Tuesday night, they continued the celebration at home with a 38- 30 win over the visiting districtleading Marble Falls Lady Mustangs.

“The kids just gave their hearts,” Lampasas head coach Stuart Beckwith said. “And, boy, that is so much fun. That’s why we coach, that’s why we play, and that’s why this game was invented.

“[The game is meant to be played by] people who give the effort that we just saw on that court.”

Guard Sarah Bishop, right, wrestles with a Lady Mustang post player for a rebound. She finished with four rebounds in the win. The Lady Badgers appeared to be well on their way to a blowout as they ran out to a 12-point lead, 20- 8, by halftime after holding the Lady Mustangs to two points in the second quarter.

They quickly found themselves in a fight, however.

Marble Falls rebounded from its poor first-half shooting performance (4 of 19) to score 13 points in the third quarter, which included an 8-0 spurt that helped pull the team back into the game.

The visitors ate away at Lampasas’ nine-point lead, 30-21, in the fourth quarter, carving it to just three points with a little less than four minutes remaining in the game.

But Lampasas responded by hitting eight free throws down the stretch that accounted for all the Lady Badgers’ fourth-quarter offensive production.

PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Madison Morris tries to work her way around Marble Falls’ freshman forward Kiara Etheridge. Morris hit four free throws in the final minute to help secure the victory for Lampasas. Perhaps no points were more important than the four drained by junior Madison Morris. Her free throws all came within the final minute and pushed the Lady Badgers’ lead to the final margin of eight points, 38-30.

“I was sure happy when Madison stepped up and hit those,” Beckwith said. “That sure made it a lot easier to breathe when she did that.”

Morris finished with a game-high 12 points on four-of-seven shooting and grabbed five rebounds.

Seconds after her final free throw fell through, guard Kayla Prescott picked up her third steal to seal the victory.

As a team, Lampasas won the rebounding battle 26-16, as Jennifer Herron and Lauren Barlow joined Morris with five rebounds each.

The Lady Badgers also were balanced offensively.

Prescott chipped in 10 points, including a pair of third-quarter 3- pointers, and six other players recorded at least two points apiece.

In all, nine of Lampasas’ 13 field goals came off an assist.

While it is still early in the district race, the Lady Badgers are knocking on the playoff door but have a lot of work to do before forcing their way into the postseason.

Lampasas (10-15, 2-2 District 25-4A) sits in a three-way tie with Hutto and Hendrickson for the final two playoff spots behind Marble Falls (12-12, 3-1) and Killeen (11-15, 3-1).

After knocking off the district’s only unbeaten team, the Lady Badgers will look to pull off another upset tonight when they travel to Killeen for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

“We talked about [Killeen] before we even stepped off the court,” Beckwith said. “They are so athletic and if you want to talk about turnarounds, before Christmas [the Lady Roos] had won three games, and after Christmas they came out and won six of their first seven.

“They didn’t get any new players. They just turned their attitude around, and they are working real hard right now.”

*** Lampasas’ freshmen improved to 7-10 (2-2 district) with a 31-21 win.

The junior varsity Lady Badgers (10-9, 3-1) won their home game by seven points, 18-11.