BELLEFONTE — With the way the seasons have gone for the Bellefonte and Penns Valley girls’ basketball teams, you look for small victories.

The Lady Rams found one Tuesday night.

“A streak — we’ve finally got a streak,” senior guard Cassie Hazel said. “A two-game winning streak.”

The Lady Rams ended a six-game skid on Monday night against East Juniata, then 24 hours later gave themselves that win streak with a 26-22 victory over the Lady Red Raiders.

“We worked really hard, and when you work really hard things are bound to happen,” Lady Rams coach Andrea Borland said. “It was a typical Bellefonte-Penns Valley game. It was close, it was hard-fought. It wasn’t the prettiest of games.”

While the game was lacking in some picturesque qualities, the end certainly had some drama.

Penns Valley (4-14) had led since early in the first quarter, but saw Bellefonte (4-15) storm ahead at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

But the Lady Rams rallied with Hazel sinking four straight free throws to put them ahead for good.

The first two came with 1:09 left and broke a 21-21 tie, and the other two came with 24.9 left.

“I wasn’t too nervous because I’ve been in that situation before,” said Hazel, who also had three steals. “I guess a lot of it was on the game so I had to make them.”

Hazel, a 65 percent free-throw shooter this season, finished 5-for-6 from the line to account for all of her points.

“We needed those foul shots,” Borland said. “She came up big for us.”

It gave Penns Valley a season sweep of their Centre County rival. The team’s last win before the six-game skid was a 46-42 decision over the Lady Raiders on Jan. 10 in Spring Mills.

“It was one of the few games we’ve had where there was a lot of pressure at the end, a lot of tension,” Bellefonte coach Roger Herto said. “We just didn’t make baskets when we needed them.”

Kelsey Boone’s nine points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and four steals led the Lady Rams. She helped drive them to a lead as large as seven points in the first half, five points at halftime and 18-15 at the end of the third quarter.

“It was not a pretty game to watch,” Herto said. “Both teams were scrapping, giving it everything they had. It certainly wasn’t an offensive showcase.”

Then Herto’s team found some offense for a few minutes. Lexi Wetzler, who led her team with seven points, six rebounds and four steals, opened the quarter with a layup, and a Torrie Sealy layup off an Ally Steen steal put Bellefonte in the lead. Cassandra Book, who grabbed eight rebounds, then added a bucket to extend the margin.

However, with 5:36 left after Book’s score, the Lady Raiders would find just one more point the rest of the game.

“We did a lot of things well tonight,” Herto said. “As I told them in games, ‘If we put the ball in (the basket) it makes life a little easier. A lot of times we ran the offense perfectly, got the shots we wanted but they didn’t go.”

The Lady Raiders’ loss spoiled Senior Night for Jillian Musser, their lone 12th-grader who had four rebounds and three steals.

“Everyone was trying really hard for her tonight because we thought we would come out with a win tonight,” Herto said. “The kids felt a little disappointed for her. She has been such a great leader for us this year on a team that has really struggled. It’s easy to be a leader when things are going great. You find out more about kids when they’re in tough situations.”

Meanwhile, the Lady Rams got something they can feel good about — a win streak — to take into their final four games of the season over the next 10 days.

“We came through,” Borland said. “We fought to the end and we got the win.”

Gordon Brunskill can be reached at 231-4608.