AHOSKIE – Bethel Christian Academy is headed to the finals for the first time.

The Lady Eagles dispatched Lawrence Academy 44-20 in the semifinals of the Lt. Nick Brantley Scholarship Tournament here Tuesday to earn a trip to the championship contest.

Kelsie Conner led the way for Bethel with 15 points while Elizabeth Farmer chipped in 11. Jessica Howerton and Charitee Dunlow had six each.

Holly McNair led Lawrence with eight points and Jodie Lawrence added four.

Farmer started things off for the Eagles with a deuce and a triple back-to-back for Bethel. Conner then scored to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

Lawrence stopped the run when she had a field goal for the Warriors to close it to 7-2.

Bethel continued to pull away after the score when Conner and Farmer hit back-to-back hoops and then the former added a free throw. Howerton then got her first two points as Bethel took a 14-2 advantage.

McNair stopped the spurt with a bucket, but Conner scored again as Bethel took a 16-4 lead after one quarter.

The lead continued to bulge as the second period opened. Howerton, Conner and Dunlow hit consecutive shots to give Bethel a 22-4 advantage with 5:45 to play in the second period.

Conner then hit back-to-back hoops before Farmer scored again to give the Lady Eagles a comfortable 28-4 margin.

McNair finally stopped the Bethel run with a hoop that closed it to 28-6. Following a Howerton bucket, Meg Sutton scored for the Lady Warriors to close the gap to 30-8.

Alyssa Fairless, Conner and Farmer each had a hoop for Bethel in the final minutes of the first half and the Eagles went into the locker room with a 36-8 lead.

The third quarter was a quick and low-scoring affair with Bethel outscoring Lawrence 4-2. Kristen Adams and Dunlow had the hoops for the Eagles while Heather Hughes scored for Lawrence.

The fourth quarter saw the Lady Warriors have their best offensive performance of the night. Sydney Brabble scored the first bucket of the period and then, after an Adams hoop, the Warriors rolled off eight unanswered.

McNair had four points during that spurt with Lawrence adding two and Hallie Corbett scoring the other bucket.

Dunlow closed out the scoring with the final hoop of the contest.

Bethel Christian improved to 2-0 for the season while Lawrence dropped to 0-1.

The Lady Warriors will play in Thursday’s Consolation Game at approximately 6 p.m. They will square off with Northeast Academy.

Bethel will head to the finals where they will square off with Ridgecroft School, the tournament’s defending champion.

The Lt. Nick Brantley Scholarship Tournament is sponsored jointly by United Country Joe Murray Realty and the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald.