Despite being down double digits at halftime, the North Callaway girls felt Tuesday’s game at Hallsville was within reach.

The Ladybirds were two points behind in the final two minutes before Kristen Jones nailed a 3-pointer with a minute left to eventually hand a 42-34 loss to North Callaway (6-5). At the intermission, the Ladybirds were down 29-17 prior to an 11-5 third quarter that brought them within striking distance.

Head coach Tim Turlington said Jones’ strike was too costly for North Callaway as hitting a shot that late forced the Ladybirds to play the foul game, hoping the Lady Indians missed free throws. They didn’t, and North Callaway didn’t have quite enough offense to support the defensive effort.

“Good on her,” Turlington said. “That’s what separates players right there. I thought we had a good strong second half. One of the things you saw from both teams is fatigue got the legs a little bit. It wasn’t a high-scoring game, but both teams were also playing pretty sticky defense. This was a good game for us to play.”

Natalie Shryock was North Callaway’s leading scorer with seven points but also affected the game in other ways with seven assists and a team-high nine rebounds followed by six points and five boards from Lakyn Hartley. Riley Blevins finished with six points and three steals.

Jones led Hallsville (7-2) with 17 points, knocking down three 3-pointers to go with her three steals. Haley Hagan followed with 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks, and Haley Martin was tough on the defensive end with her seven steals.

Martin was at the forefront of Hallsville’s smothering defense in the second quarter, which was when the Lady Indians built their first double-digit lead. North Callaway responded with similar uncomfortable defense in the third quarter that had the Ladybirds trail 34-28 following a Faith Cash 3-pointer and Blevins jumper off a Shryock assist.

“We talked a little bit about their three-guard weave at the top and wanting to use their post,” Turlington said. “Their first four trips, we caused three turnovers. That was good and is what we want. We’re guarding well. We really are, but we’re just not keeping pace on the scoreboard. Let’s say we knock down two or three more shots — a whole different ballgame. That’s how close we are.”

Hallsville jumped ahead 14-6 in the first quarter prior to Shryock finding Hartley for a 3-point play to send North Callaway into the second quarter on a positive note. The negatives outnumbered the positives in the next eight minutes, however, as the Ladybirds allowed a 9-0 Hallsville run.

Turlington said he likes how North Callaway was able to improve in the second half and prove it could handle an unfamiliar style of basketball.

“They’ll stretch the floor. They’ll stretch you,” Turlington said. “That’s a good game for us to play. It’s a different style of basketball we generally don’t see. Our girls handled a lot of stuff — a lot of difficult stuff.”

Coming off a third quarter where North Callaway only allowed one bucket in the half court, the Ladybirds clawed back to a 36-34 deficit after Shryock hit a jumper and a pair of free throws.

Up until that point, Shryock had three points but was staying active everywhere else. Turlington said he likes to see that from players that aren’t lighting up the scoreboard.

“Some nights, we’re going to have somebody drop 20-25 (points). Other nights, you’re going to have two or three people drop eight,” Turlington said. “Whatever we need to do or can do.”

Seven Ladybirds scored so Turlington said that’s a great sign for the future and now they need to go a little bit farther to turn Tuesday’s game into a win.

“I hated for the girls to give this one up, but they came a long way in this game where we could’ve folded when down 12, 14 or 15 maybe at one time,” Turlington said. “We could’ve folded, but nope. We just kept playing, had good things happen for us and gave ourselves a chance to win.”