FRANKFORT — Bell County’s girls basketball team used a strong second half to beat Raceland 56-40 Thursday in the Christmas at the Capital Holiday Classic.

The win puts the Lady Cats in Friday’s championship game.

“In the first half we played a little out of control on the offensive end,” Bell County coach David Teague said. “In the second half we did a much better job of settling down. We only had two turnovers the entire second half, and we made our free throws.”

Bell County (7-6) led just 12-11 after the first quarter but extended its lead to 23-15 by halftime.

The Lady Cats were ahead 41-30 at the end of the third quarter and scored the first four points of the final period.

Raceland (4-7) didn’t get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Bell’s Brittney Cupp led all players with 27 points and was named the player of the game. Also scoring for the Lady Cats were Brittany Davis with 11 points, Abby Harris with 10, and Karlee Cox with eight points.

The Lady Cats will play the winner of the Brown-Williamstown semifinal Friday at 7:15 p.m. for the tournament championship.

“We came up here and wanted to play well,” Teague said. “You get a chance to play people you don’t normally have an opportunity to see.

“I don’t know much about these two teams (Brown and Williamstown), but I’m going to find out.”