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The North Middle School Gatorettes lost to the Warren County Lady Pioneers 52-41 at home Thursday in a semifinal game for the Central Tennessee Conference tournament.

The Gatorettes trailed by double digits from the second quarter onward, and a late rally wasn’t enough to erase the sizable deficit they faced.

The score was close throughout the opening period with the Lady Pioneers creating a small early lead for themselves.

The Gatorettes trailed 12-8 after one quarter.

The Lady Pioneers ended the first half on an 11-1 run to put the Gatorettes in a double-digit hole going into halftime.

North trailed 30-16 at the end of the first half.

The deficit continued to grow in the third quarter as the Gatorettes weren’t able to make up any ground in the period.

They trailed 45-25 going into the final period.

The Gatorettes chipped away at the deficit throughout the fourth quarter, but it wouldn’t be enough to get back into the game as they lost by 11.

Gracen Baggett led the Gatorettes with 18 points for the game, followed by Kenzie Arnold with 11 points and Kennedy Hall with five.

Allie Burnette scored three points, and Sadie Hill and Shekinah Miller scored two points each.

With the loss, the Gatorettes moved to 9-5 on the season.

They will next play Monday at 7 p.m. in a first-round game for their area tournament at Coffee County Middle School. An opponent for the game had not been confirmed at the time of writing.