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DANVILLE — The Lincoln County girls are 2-for-2 against Boyle County.

The Lady Patriots got their first look at the Lady Rebels on Dec. 27, and they had little trouble disposing of their 45th District rival, rolling 57-39 in the Banker Hardwood Classic. The two teams met on the hardwood once again Friday night and Lincoln was once again victorious.

There would be no double-digit victory for Lincoln in the rematch, but the Lady Patriots would hold off a late surge by the host Lady Rebels to post a 54-45 win.

“A good district win on the road is important,” Lincoln County coach Cassandra McWhorter said. “Probably not the prettiest win, but a win’s a win.”

Lincoln (9-8, 2-1 45th District) led by as many as 14 points in the game and was holding to a 43-33 lead with 5:36 to play in the fourth quarter when Peyton Bugg, who led the Lady Rebels with 14 points, and Alyssa Wray, who scored 12 points, scored a bucket apiece and Keely Bowling, who had 11 points, hit a 3-pointer to get Boyle within 45-40 with 4:24 on the clock.

But that was as close as Boyle would get. Haleigh Releford, who had a game-high 16 points for Lincoln, answered the late surge with a bucket and a 3-pointer and Trinity Shearer, who pushed in 15 points, bombed in her own 3 to push the Lady Pat lead back to 53-42 as Lincoln secured the win.

“Proud of the girls for fighting,” said McWhorter. “We had some adversity tonight with foul trouble early and Chloe (Ralston) goes down with an ankle injury. And I think some of them’s stomachs are upset and stuff. There were just a lot of different factors in the ballgame. But they fought through it. It was a hard-fought win.”

The Lady Patriots never trailed in the 45th District clash, opening the game on an 11-2 run. Releford drained two 3-pointers in the early run and Shearer had a trey and a layup. Wray scored Boyle’s first points at the 5:49 mark with two free throws. Lincoln led 14-7 at the end of the first.

“Good start. When we get off to a good start like that and the ball goes through the hole, we tend to play a little better throughout the stretch,” said McWhorter. “I think we got a little complacent because we saw some of the 3’s going down early and we got a little complacent with the outside shot and didn’t attack the rim as much as I would have liked.”

The lack of attack resulted in lower numbers than McWhorter wants at the charity stripe.

“I think we only went to the free throw line 10 times and our goal has been around the 20 mark to get there. I’d like to see that improve,” she said.

Lincoln posted its largest lead of the game, 14 points, late in the first half. The Lady Pats outscored the Lady Rebels 16-11 in the second quarter and a 7-0 run extended the lead to 30-16. Savannah Robbins hit inside on a wide open shot to open the run, Haleigh Ellison scored two buckets and Ally Lynn added a free throw toss. The lead was 30-18 at the break.

Boyle (7-10, 1-3) outscored Lincoln in both the third and fourth quarters (11-9, 16-15) but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the Lady Patriots’ early lead.

“There’s some little things we’ve got to clean up here and there. but most importantly, road win, district win. There are things I’d liked to have seen done better but end results – nice.”

Lincoln shot 35 percent from the field overall, going 22-for-63, 6-for-17 from 3-point range.

“The 2-ball just wasn’t going in tonight,” said McWhorter.

The Lady Patriots were 4-for-10 at the foul line.

Boyle shot just 28 percent overall, going 17-for-61. The Lady Rebels were 7-for-13 at the line.

Shearer and Robbins led Lincoln on the glass with seven rebounds each. Releford had six boards.

Lincoln had 14 turnovers while Boyle had 10, a stat that McWhorter would like to see reversed.

“In any game, we want to force people to more turnovers than us,” she said.

At Boyle Co.

Lincoln 14 16 9 15 – 54

Boyle 7 11 11 16 – 45

LINCOLN (9-8, 2-1) – Trinity Shearer 15, Haleigh Releford 16, Chloe Ralston 5, Savannah Robbins 2, Haleigh Ellison 8, Talynne Shearer 2, Ally Lynn 1, Hailee Reed 4, Abby Lane 1.

BOYLE (7-10, 1-3) – Emily Glasscock 4, Peyton Bugg 14, Madison Baker 4, Keely Bowling 11, Alyssa Wray 12