PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lampasas guard Makayla Valles tries to maintain her dribble after falling to the ground while being tightly defended. During halftime of the Lady Badgers game against Lake Travis, Lampasas head coach Stuart Beckwith knew his team would win.

So did his players.

They were right.

It took 28 minutes of action after the break, but the Lady Badgers eventually won the game by four points, 54-50, in triple overtime.

“Those were 10 kids that decided we were not going to lose that game,” the coach said. “Whatever it took, we were not going to lose that game.

“That’s something we haven’t seen before, and I’m excited and proud of the effort of my kids.”

After suffering through a two-of- 18 shooting performance and scoring just four points in the first quarter, the Lady Badgers slipped into a seven-point hole at 17-10 with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

Then things started to swing the other way.

Lampasas went on a nine-point run that included back-to-back 3- pointers from Kayla Prescott (12 pts.) and Marisa Bogart (5 pts.) to take the lead.

The Lady Cavaliers responded, however, with a 4-0 run to go into halftime leading 21-19.

Despite being down, Beckwith saw enough determination from his players in the locker room to know they would defend their home court.

“I knew for a fact by the way the kids were acting during halftime that we had them right where we wanted them,” the coach said.

After ending regulation tied 39- 39, senior post Lauren Barlow single-handedly kept the Lady Badgers alive by scoring all six of the team’s points in the period. Her only miss of the period came on a desperation 3-pointer from past halfcourt that bounced off the rim as time expired with the score knotted up at 45-45.

Barlow finished the game with a team-high 17 points after scoring eight in regulation.

In the second overtime, both teams scored four points to force four more minutes of play where Lampasas used a Kallen Vann field goal and clutch free throws from Sarah Bishop and Barlow to secure the victory.

Additionally, the Lady Badgers (11-18, 3-5 District 25-4A) kept themselves in contention for a spot in the playoffs. The victory, coupled with Marble Falls’ loss to Killeen, brings the Lady Badgers within a game of the fourth-place Lady Mustangs (13-14, 4-4) in the standings.

The two squads play each other tonight in Marble Falls’ gymnasium at 7 p.m.

“If we beat them, that gives us the same amount of wins, and we own the tiebreaker over them,” Beckwith said. “The bottom line is we have to take it one game at a time and not worry about anyone else.

“Our job now is to beat Marble Falls.”