AHOSKIE – Vanessa Mitchell poured in 16 points and led Hertford County High School to victory here Friday night.

Brandi Burden and Dyani Hall each added double figures as the Lady Bears knocked off Northeastern Coastal Conference foe Edenton 57-43.

“Tonight we settled down and played Lady Bears’ basketball,” said first-year HCHS coach Sha-Teisa Sharpe. “We executed on offense and played good pressure defense. This was a good conference win for us.”

While the Lady Bears came away with the win, it wasn’t easy in the early going. HCHS scored 19 points in the first quarter, getting one of their best starts of the season. Edenton, however, answered with 16 of their own and was within three at the end of the period.

All the offense evaporated in the second quarter with the teams combining for seven points in a period dominated by defense.

Bailey Nicholas got the first point of the second quarter on a free throw that pushed the HCHS lead to four. Hadiya Bembry answered for the Lady Aces and closed the gap to a pair (20-18).

The only other points of the quarter came on a Mitchell bucket and a pair of free throws by Talisha Speight as Hertford County entered the locker room with a 24-18 halftime lead.

Edenton scored the first five points of the third quarter – all coming from Zikia Leary – as they closed the gap to a single point (24-23). While the Aces closed that gap, they couldn’t wrestle the lead away from HCHS as the Bears answered each time.

The closest the Aces got was on a free throw by Shykia Beasley that tied the game at 31-all. The Lady Bears answered, however, with a Mitchell hoop that gave them a 33-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Once in that period, Edenton was able to tie the game twice – at 33 and 35 – but could still not pull off a shot to give themselves the lead.

Once the game was tied at 35-all, the Lady Bears took control. Burden scored to spark an 8-0 run. The other six points on that spurt came from Hall, whose last bucket put Hertford County ahead 43-35.

Leary stopped the run with a three-point play for the Aces, but Mitchell scored and was followed by a Kyara Rodgers free throw and a Burden hoop. Mitchell then buried a three-pointer that was the dagger in the hearts of the Aces, giving HCHS a 51-38 lead with just over a minute to play.

Leary answered with a triple, but it wasn’t enough as HCHS scored six of the final eight points to claim victory.

Burden ended the game with 13 while Hall had an even dozen. Dalisha Speight had six while Desiree James had four, Rodgers added three and T. Speight had two. Nicholas rounded out the scoring with one.

Leary led Edenton with 17 points followed by 11 from Bembry.

The win boosted the Lady Bears to 4-7 overall and 2-1 inside the Northeastern Coastal Conference.