PANTEGO — Terra Ceia, looking for its third win of the season, played Lawrence close throughout Tuesday’s contest. Up until the final minute, the visitors never led by more than five points. A pair of free throws and a layup by Lawrence guard Taylor Wilson iced a 50-42 loss for Terra Ceia’s girls.

Every time the Lady Warriors started to pull ahead, Terra Ceia’s offense would go on short runs to come back. The Lady Knights trailed 16-11 after Lawrence made a pair of jumpers early in the second quarter. Catherine Meijer sank a pair of free throws and Rebecca Harrison got a fast-break layup shortly after to pull back within one.

That was the story throughout the game. The Lady Knights trailed 24-19 going into the second half, but went on a 9-0 run to take the lead. Ashley James spearheaded the effort with seven of the points. Caitlin Griffin added the other two points at the free-throw line.

“We fought hard here tonight,” said head coach Daren Hubers. “We’re struggling offensively right now. I was proud of the girls for keeping it close. We’ve got to work more on our defense: rotations and getting to the open people. And we’ve got to work better on offense and finding the open people and then making some shots.”

Terra Ceia had the opportunities to earn a bigger lead, but had too many empty possessions throughout the game. That afforded Lawrence the chance to battle back and reclaim the lead going into the final period.

The Lady Warriors opened the fourth with a pair of field goals to take a 37-32 lead. Terra Ceia was able to answer with some of its own baskets, but missed its fair share of shots, which prevented a comeback.

The dagger proved to be Lawrence guard Harley West driving untouched right through the lane for an easy layup that put her side up 44-40.

“We’re trying to get more aggressive,” Hubers said. “We’re trying to pressure the ball a lot more and cause some turnovers and turn those into fast breaks.”

The Lady Knights look to snap their brief losing streak at Bear Grass on Thursday. They had their best offensive outing of the season against the Lady Bears in a 55-40 win on Dec. 3. Harrison had a 21-point breakout performance. James and Meijer also combined for 24 points. They’ll look to repeat that as the team’s offense continues to come together.