ASKEWVILLE – Bethel Christian Academy’s varsity girls accomplished a pair of goals Tuesday.

The Lady Eagles snapped a two-game slide and also raised awareness and funding for breast cancer research in their first-ever Pink Zone Game. During the contest, Bethel edged Pungo Christian Academy 37-30.

Kelsie Conner led the way for the home-standing Eagles with a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. She added one block.

Jessica Howerton had a game-high 13 blocks while pulling down five rebounds and adding six points. Kristen Adams had four points and two assists as well as a rebound.

Charitee Dunlow and Elizabeth Farmer had two points each.  Dunlow added two steals, two assists and three rebounds while Farmer had two assists, one steal and a rebound.

Alyssa Fairless checked in with five rebounds and one steal.

Pungo got on the board first with a hoop for Allison Armstrong, but back-to-back hoops from Conner gave Bethel the lead at 4-2 and they never trailed again.

Howerton added to the advantage with a pair of free throws before Carissa Cahoon scored from the charity stripe to close the gap to 6-3 with 4:12 to play in the first period.

Howerton and Farmer had consecutive hoops to push the Eagles’ lead to 10-3 before late hoops by Melanie Harris and Armstrong closed the Lady Raiders’ deficit to three (10-7) at the end of the quarter.

Cahoon got the margin to one on her hoop with just over seven minutes to play, but a Conner score on a Farmer assist at the other end thwarted the comeback.

Armstrong again closed the gap to one, but Conner had a three-point play and then added two more from the charity stripe as the Eagles built a 17-11 lead with 31 ticks left on the second quarter clock.

Before the intermission, Armstrong hit 1-of-2 from the line and Adams hit a pair of free throws as Bethel took a 19-12 halftime lead.

Bethel scored the first two hoops of the third quarter with back-to-back hoops from Conner and Howerton as they edged ahead 23-12.

Jenna Sadler then scored four of the next six points – answered only by two points from Adams – as the Lady Raiders got within 25-16.

Conner then scored before Dunlow converted an assist from Adams to make it 29-16. Bethel led 32-18 heading into the final quarter.

The Lady Raiders rallied in the final quarter, scoring seven unanswered after a Conner hoop to close within 34-25.

Bethel, however, got enough scoring to hold on for their third victory over PCA this season.

The win came despite the absence of Lady Eagles’ skipper Ashley Byrum due to illness and the continued absence of reserve Taylor Thomas with an ankle injury.  The Eagles were under the direction of Lyndal White.

Bethel Christian improved to 18-4 this season heading into next week’s rematch at Gramercy Christian School.