The Bell County Lady Cats went into the Wesbanco Bank Holiday Classic tournament at North Bullitt sitting at 4-1 on the season.

After downing North Hardin 48-44, Bell County took out Bullitt Central 67-37 to advance to the championship game against Montgomery County. The Lady Cats defeated the Montgomery County Lady Indians 58-53 on Sunday to win the tournament.

“The tournament at North Bullitt was a good trip for us,” said Bell County coach David Teague. “We were able to gain some experience as a team, get several kids some varsity playing time and also get a couple hard fought wins.

“I was proud of our team’s effort over the three days. They battled and really played for each other. It was a good accomplishment for our team in winning a holiday tournament, and hopefully it will give us more confidence moving forward.”

With all three victories, the Lady Cats improved to 7-1 on the season, including a 2-0 mark in district play. Bell County also sits second in the 13th Region rankings through this point in the season, sitting behind 6-1 South Laurel and above 8-1 North Laurel.

Throughout the tournament, Bell County averaged 57.6 points-per-game, while holding their opponents to an average of 44.6 points for each contest.

Talyah McQueen led Bell County against North Hardin with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Abby Harris added 10 points and five rebounds. Ashtyn Meyers added nine points, Abigail Cornett had five, Sara Kidwell added two and Lenia Miracle added one.

Against Bullitt Central, the Lady Cats had a very balanced scoring attack, again, led by McQueen with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Nadine Johnson also led in scoring with 11 points. Sara Kidwell and Abby Harris netted 10 points each. Ashtyn Meyers followed closely with nine. She was followed by Abigail Cornett with eight, Mataya Ausmus with five, Mary-Kate Smith added two and Keara Helton added one.

After winning the championship game against Montgomery County 58-53, Teague became Bell County High School’ all-time wins leader in basketball with 208 total victories.

“I’m humbled by the accomplishment”, said Teague, who is only the second basketball coach in BCHS history to eclipse 200 wins. “I’m also very honored at the same time.

“Bell County High School has had a good tradition in boys and girls basketball and had some very good coaches. I’ve had some good players over the years, some good assistant coaches and obviously no win would be possible without them — so I thank each of them. I’m proud of what we’ve done in the last 10 years or so with our girls basketball program at Bell County. Hopefully, we can keep working hard and have even more success moving forward.”

Bell County will be back in action after Christmas beginning with Bath County in the first round of the Lady Gator Classic tournament at Greenwood on Dec. 27. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.