CORBIN — Madison Ball hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including the game-winner at the buzzer, as Harlan wiped out a 12-point deficit to edge Bell County 49-46 Monday at the Cumberland Falls Invitational. The win gave Lady Dragons afourth place finsih in the tournament.

“(Ball) played big,” Bell County coach David Teague said. “When she went out of the game a little bit was when we made our run. She made some big shots. You can tell she’s worked on that shot. Give all the credit to her.”

Harlan outscored Bell 20-5 in the fourth quarter, beginning with a 9-0 run. A jumper by Courtney Carroll ended the drought for Bell, but Ball hit two 3-pointers in an 8-0 that put the Lady Dragons on top by three with 40 seconds left.

“We’ve been shooting like 13 percent from the 3-point, but we’ve still been in games,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “I thought that if we could guard and contest all shoots that we could stay in the game. I thought the fourth quarter they did an excellent job of talking on defense and challenging shots. They did an excellent job on the defensive end, and I think that translated to some big shots on offense.”

A three-point play by Whitney Howard off an offensive rebound pulled the Lady Cats even with 11.4 seconds to play, setting the stage for Ball’s third trey in the final two minutes.

“They could have folded, but they showed some toughness down the stretch,” Akal said. “I told them this is where character comes in. They stayed in there and fought hard and got a win out of it.”

Bell County rolled to a 62-31win over Harlan on Dec. 3 at Log Mountain.

“Give credit to Harlan,” Teague said. “We tried to make sure our kids were focused, but you can’t overlook anybody. They just outplayed us tonight. It meant a little more for them to beat us tonight than I felt like it did for our kids to beat them. We lost focus or lost our energy.”

“One of the first things I told them was it’s a process and we’ll get better every day,” Akal said. “We told them if they keep working hard that these kind of things can happen, but we have to put this behind us and move on to the next one.”

Ashley Mullins scored 15 and Ball added 11 to lead the 6-3 Lady Dragons.

Howard scored 16 and Maci Morris added 14 to lead the 4-3 Lady Cats.

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BELL COUNTY (4-3)

Makayla Neal 0-3 0-0 0, Whitney Howard 5-9 5-5 16, Courtney Carroll 1-3 0-0 2, Maci Morris 6-16 1-1 14, Brittany Smith 3-9 1-2 9, Makayla Elliott 1-3 0-0 2, Taylor Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Garnett 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 17-45 7-8 46.

HARLAN (6-3)

Madison Ball 3-6 2-2 11, Kelly Cox 1-7 2-2 5, Samantha Henson 1-1 2-4 4, Gabrielle Rehnborg 3-11 2-2 8, Ashley Mullins 6-15 3-4 15, Jourdan Ledford 2-10 0-2 6, Emily Nantz 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 16-53 11-16 49.

Bell County 11 14 16 5 — 46

Harlan 12 9 8 20 — 49

3-point goals: Bell County 5-16 (Smith 2-4, Garnett 1-2, Howard 1-3, Morris 1-4, Carroll 0-1, Neal 0-2), Harlan 6-12 (Ball 3-4, Ledford 2-7, Cox 1-4). Rebounds: Bell County 21 (Morris 12), Harlan 34 (Mullins 14). Turnovers: Bell County 10, Harlan 9. Fouled out: None.