MERRY HILL – Elizabeth Farmer scored 19 points to lead Bethel Christian Academy to win number eight.

The Lady Eagles used Farmer’s game to defeat Bertie County rival Lawrence Academy for the third time this season, winning 43-4 Thursday night.

In addition to Farmer’s 19, the Lady Eagles got nine points and 14 rebounds from Kelsie Conner while Jessica Howerton added seven points and 13 boards.

Charitee Dunlow chipped in two points, but had nine rebounds, six steals and three assists in the contest. Kristen Adams had four points, two assists and pulled down five rebounds from her guard spot.

Despite the final score, the contest was close in the early going.

Bethel Christian took the early lead with back-to-back hoops from Howerton over the opening minute.

Lawrence, however, rallied to tie the game on back-to-back buckets from Hayden Thompson and Holly McNair. The score stayed even until the 3:08 mark of the first quarter when Conner hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to give Bethel a 5-4 lead.

Over the final three minutes of the quarter, Farmer added two hoops and Conner added a bucket and a free throw to make it 13-4 after one period of play.

Farmer opened the second quarter with a three-pointer and then Howerton added a hoop to make it 18-4.

Lawrence had a pair of opportunities at the free throw line, but missed four consecutive shots from the charity stripe over a one minute period.

Adams hit her first bucket of the game with 3:18 remaining in the quarter and Farmer and Conner had back-to-back buckets to give Bethel a comfortable 24-4 lead at the intermission.

The Lady Eagles added nine points in the third quarter on field goals by Howerton and Adams and a three-pointer from Farmer. They also got free throws from Farmer and Conner.

Lawrence, however, didn’t take advantage of a pair of free throw opportunities and the Eagles led 33-4 after three quarters.

Bethel scored their final 10 points in the fourth quarter and held the basketball for the final 2:17 to secure the win.

Bethel (8-2) will travel to Ridgecroft School Monday night where they will face the Lady Rams, who have handed them both losses this season.

Lawrence, meanwhile, will be back in action Tuesday when they host Columbia.