LASKER — The Lady Eagles of Northeast Academy held off a fierce fourth quarter rally by the Lady Warriors of Lawrence to claim a 40-37 Tarheel Independent Conference victory here Friday night.

Clutch free throw shooting by the Lady Eagles’ Ivey Little allowed the home squad to squeak out the win as the Lady Warriors held the Lady Eagles without a basket over the final 5:17 of the game.

The Lady Warriors opened up an early lead on the strength of the inside play of Hayden Thompson who scored six of the Lady Warriors 12 points in the first quarter.  The quarter ended with the Lady Warriors holding a 12-8 advantage.

The second quarter saw the Lady Warriors score the first six points on baskets by Thompson, Anne Gray Thompson and Heather Hughes giving the visitors from Merry Hill an 18-8 lead at the 5:07 mark of the half.

But the Lady Eagles fought back. Two buckets by Hannah Roye , one of which was a layup following a steal by the Lady Eagle guard seemed to ignite the team.

A free throw by Chelsea Rose which was followed by two baskets by the Lady Eagle forward cut the Lady Warrior lead to 18-17.  A basket by Lawrence’s Holly McNair gave the Lady Warriors a 20-17 lead going into intermission.

The teams swapped baskets to begin the third quarter with the Lady Warriors holding a 23-22 advantage midway through the quarter.

An offensive rebound and put back by Robyne Barnes at the 3:58 mark gave the Lady Eagles their first lead of the evening.  A quick steal by Mollie Cocke of the Lady Eagles led to a Roye field goal giving the home team a 26-23 lead.  Another basket by Roye and one by Little sandwiched a basket by the Lady Warrior’s Hayden Thompson closing out the scoring in the third quarter with Northeast holding a 30-25 lead.

The fourth quarter began with the Lady Eagles opening up a seven-point lead as Roye scored three baskets around a basket by H. Thompson putting the Northeast squad up 36-29 at the 5:17 mark.

And that is when things really got interesting.

Maggie Daniels of the Lady Warriors hit her only basket of the night.  She followed that up with a quick steal which led to a free throw by A. Thompson.  A basket by the Lady Warriors Priscilla Lunsford cut the lead to 36-33. A free throw by Rose gave the Lady Eagles a four point lead with 2:23 remaining in the game.

A basket by McNair and a free throw a piece by Lunsford and McNair tied the score at 37 with one minute remaining.

Both teams had opportunities to take the lead in the final minute but neither team could hit its free throws until Little stepped to the line with 19 seconds left on the clock and hit both ends of a 1-plus-1.

The Lady Warriors were unable to get a shot off and, following a traveling call against the Lady Warriors, Little was fouled again hitting this time 1-of-2 free throws with one second left on the clock giving the Lady Eagles the win.

Leading the scoring for Northeast was Roye with 17 followed by Little’s 10.

For Lawrence, Hayden Thompson’s 15 led the way followed by Holly McNair with seven.

The Lady Eagles record improved to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the TIC.  The Lady Warriors record fell to 6-9 overall and 2-4 inside the TIC.