Handing Viburnum a 57-39 loss nearly a week ago, Evin Farris’ Belle Lady Tigers looked for their second win in as many games Thursday night hosting Calvary Lutheran’s Lady Lions on senior night.

Trailing throughout the majority of the first half, Belle took their first lead of the game on a pair of Halle Smith free throws with 2:41 until halftime.

Leading 18-17 at that point, Belle closed the first half on a 13-1 run before going on to a 52-42 victory after seniors Grace Busch, Erin Schalk and Faith Gieck were recognized before the start of varsity action.

“It felt awesome to get to start on senior night,” Gieck said. “We just had to keep ourselves pumped up even when we fell behind 8-0 early in the game.”

Allowing the first eight points of the game, Smith hit a free throw at the 5:35 mark of the first quarter to get Belle on the board.

Two Smith baskets, a Lauren Prigge 3-pointer and a Grace Busch free throw helped the Lady Tigers pull within a point of the visiting Lady Lions after one quarter.

Down 14-9 at the 7:11 mark of the second quarter, Schalk scored a pair of buckets trimming Calvary Lutheran’s lead back down to one at 14-13 with 5:45 until halftime.

Holding the Lady Lions without a field goal the rest of the half, Belle ended the first half on a 14-4 run behind 11 points from Smith putting the Lady Tigers in front 27-18 at halftime.

In addition to Smith’s first-half high 16 points, Schalk added six tally marks in the second quarter giving Belle the lead at the end of the first half of senior night.

Busch and Smith combined to score Belle’s first eight points of the second half ballooning their lead to 35-20 at the 4:30 mark of the third quarter.

“We had a pretty good lead after that run we went on at the end of the first half,” Busch said. “Halle (Smith) came to play and helped us with her big post moves. We had overall good game play with all the girls.”

Able to keep their lead in double digits the rest of the game, Belle held off a game Calvary Lutheran squad that led the host Lady Tigers the majority of the first half.

“Our girls kept playing hard and I’m proud of them for that,” Calvary Lutheran Lady Lion head basketball coach Hannah Matthews said. “We played well in the first half before we got into a hole that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of.”

Doubling her point total from the first half, Smith led Belle and all scorers with a game-high 32 points.

She also finished with 12 rebounds giving her a double double to go along with five steals and four assists.

Schalk joined Smith in the double double club with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Like Smith, Schalk also finished with five steals on the defensive end.

Busch finished senior night with five points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists.

Lauren Prigge added a first-quarter 3-pointer for three points to go along with one point each from Hali Naber and Olivia Sanders to round out Belle’s scoring.

This was not the prettiest of wins,” Farris said. “We worked on some things we hadn’t worked on in a while. We didn’t run them how we wanted but I think we’ll be ready for districts.”

Maddie Homfeldt led Calvary Lutheran in a losing cause with a team-high 26 points. Claire Duenckel also reached double figures with 12 points for the Lady Lions.

In a two-quarter JV game following varsity action, Belle closed the first quarter on an 11-3 run before holding on for a 19-15 victory.

Naber narrowly missed a double double finishing the JV game with 13 points and seven steals.

Rylee Long and Prigge each hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter to round out Belle’s scoring against Calvary Lutheran’s JV Lady Lions.

Belle will end regular-season action at Vienna tomorrow (Thursday) with the Battle of Maries County trophy on the line.