In a season-ending heartbreaker, the Loyd Star Lady Hornets fell 57-46 to the Newton Lady Tigers in round one of the playoffs Monday night.

The Lady Hornets finished the season 21-3 overall.

Head coach Gene Britt said he was proud of his team’s effort.

“The girls played their hearts out and gave all they had. I thought we deserved to win the game,” Britt said. “Got into foul trouble in the last period that took out several of our players. Couldn’t get the breaks when we needed them. Been a great year and I’m proud of the girls.”

The Lady Hornets opened the game on a three-point run before the Lady Tigers could find the scoreboard. Loyd Star senior guard Lydia Britt nailed a three-pointer to add to the Lady Hornets’ lead. Loyd Star took a 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Hornets won the rebounding battle in the first and continued their ways in the second. The first half ended with the game tied at 20.

Loyd Star senior forward Mackenzie Smith gave the Lady Hornets the lead to start the second half. With a little over two minutes to go in the third, both teams started trading leads. With time running out, Britt nailed a three-pointer to give the Lady Hornets a 35-33 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

With Loyd Star leading 41-40, Newton made a run of its own to take the lead. The Lady Hornets tried to fight back in the last couple of minutes, but Newton came away with the victory.

Smith led the Lady Hornets with a game-high 23 points on the night.  Britt was the next leading scorer with 15 points. Senior forward Caylee Yarborough and junior center Katie West finished the game with four points each.

Vivica Ardd led the Newton Lady Tigers with 17 points on the night. Myja McNichols followed up with 16 points and Nia McCalphia contributed 15 points.