Going into their Highway 28 showdown with Dixon’s Lady Bulldogs Thursday night, Evin Farris’ Belle Lady Tigers looked to snap a three-game losing streak with a victory on their home floor.

Trailing 29-24 at halftime, Belle picked a bad time to go cold on offense.

Only putting five points on the board in the third quarter, a 26-point fourth quarter was not enough before the Lady Tigers dropped a hard-fought 58-55 decision to their Highway 28 neighbors to the southwest.

Halle Smith dropped a game-high 36 points for Belle in a losing cause.

Susie Moman just missed scoring in double figures with six of her eight points in the second half.

Erin Schalk added all five of her points in the first half followed by four markers from Hali Naber and two free throws from Olivia Sanders for two points.

Down 15-9 after eight minutes, Belle was led in the first quarter with four points from Smith in addition to three from Schalk and two from Sanders.

Edging Dixon 15-14 in the second quarter, that helped the Lady Tigers go into halftime trailing by a score of 29-24.

Smith added 11 to her point total to go along with two points each from Moman and Schalk in the second quarter.

Brooke Sinclair led Dixon and all scorers with 17 first-half points.

Held to five points in the third quarter, Belle saw Dixon put 13 on the board leaving them trailing the Lady Bulldogs 42-29 with eight minutes of basketball to play.

Exploding for 26 fourth-quarter points while holding Dixon to 16, Belle couldn’t quite overcome their third-quarter deficit before dropping the Highway 28 showdown to the visiting Lady Bulldogs.

Following Smith’s game-high 36 points for Belle, Dixon was paced in scoring by Sinclair with 29 points.

Amy Wade also reached double figures for Dixon scoring nine of her 12 points in the second half.

Opening play Monday  night in the Comet Classic Girls Basketball Tournament at Fatima High School in Westphalia, it was a battle of Lady Tiger squads from Belle and St. James in the third of four first-round contests.

Held to eight first-half points, Belle went on to drop a 52-25 decision to St. James in Westphalia.

Farris’ Lady Tigers will return to action tonight (Wednesday) in Westphalia taking on the host Fatima Lady Comets in the consolation semifinals with an approximate 8:30 p.m., start time.

A Belle win would put them in the consolation championship game on Friday, Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m., against the Owensville-Iberia winner while a loss would send them to the seventh-place game at 7 p.m., also on Friday against the loser of the Owensville-Iberia contest.