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The Huntland High School Lady Hornets lost to the Cannon County Lionettes 51-44 at home Saturday for their eighth loss of the season.

The teams were never separated by more than nine points as the Lady Hornets carried a lead into the final period but weren’t able to hold onto it.

The Lionettes scored the first eight points of the game to put the Lady Hornets in a decent hole early.

Huntland trailed 15-7 after one quarter.

The Lady Hornets steadily chipped away at the deficit throughout the second quarter and tied the score at 20-20 on a 3-point play from Jocy May with 58.9 seconds remaining in the first half.

However, the Lionettes hit a go-ahead layup with about nine seconds remaining to jump back ahead as the Lady Hornets trailed 22-20 at halftime.

The Lady Hornets took their first lead of the game at 31-30 with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter on a jump shot by Logan McLennan, but the Lionettes hit a 3-pointer on their next possession to quickly retake the lead.

McLennan hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 33-33 with 53.6 seconds left in the third quarter and followed that up with a steal and a fast-break jumper with about 35 seconds remaining in the period to put the Lady Hornets in front once again.

They led 35-33 going into the final period. McLennan scored 10 of Huntland’s 15 points in the third quarter.

However, the Lionettes scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to take the lead for good as the deficit remained steady the rest of the way in the seven-point loss for Huntland.

May and McLennan led the Lady Hornets with 17 points each for the game, followed by Morgan Sanders with five points.

Maddie Burks scored three points and Kinsley Kilpatrick scored two.

With the loss, the Lady Hornets moved to 15-8 on the season.

They will next play Tuesday at Fayetteville City High School. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.