GATLINBURG - A trend has developed for the Gatlinburg-Pittman Lady Highlanders basketball team - compete for the better part of four quarters only to fade down the stretch in another disappointing loss.

Including Tuesday night’s 64-55 loss to the visiting Gibbs Lady Eagles, G-P has now dropped six of its past seven hard-fought contests.

The Lady Highlanders entered the fourth quarter trailing by just a point, 54-53. The deficit remained the same with 6:17 remaining and G-P down 56-55.

That’s when Gibbs decided to slow down the pace and had guard Taylor Mills - who led all scorers on the night with 29 points - stand in one spot and dribble the ball for nearly 90 seconds.

The crowd started booing 45 seconds into the dribble, but the Lady Highlanders appeared to be content to allow the seconds to continue to tick off the board and refused to put pressure on Mills.

Finally, Gibbs ran a play that resulted in a turnover with 4:50 remaining.

But the Lady Highlanders offense had gone AWOL by then and didn’t score a point the rest of the night. G-P had its chances down the stretch, but they couldn’t even buy a layup as Gibbs slowly padded its lead with charity shots.

It didn’t help that G-P senior Morgan Dodgen was called for her fifth and final foul on the ensuing possession, when the refs ruled a charge instead of a block on a boom-boom play.

“That call on Morgan was huge,” said G-P coach Mike Rader. “If they call a block there, it’s a different game. Losing Morgan at that point of the game was huge. If she stays in the game, I think it’s a different outcome.”

Things didn’t look promising for the Lady Highlanders even before the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the contest.

G-P senior Leah Bryan was out nursing a right ankle sprain, freshman standout Karsen Sims was limited due to illness and G-P senior Caroline Conner was not with the team for the second straight game.

Someone had to step up for the Lady Blue and Gold, and that player was junior guard Beka Owens, who sniped a trey with 6 seconds left in the first quarter to cut the Gibbs edge to 14-13 heading into the second.

Owens put the Lady Highlanders on top for the first time in the game with a steal and a nice assist to junior teammate Stephanie Taylor for an easy layup and a 15-14 G-P lead with 7:44 in the half.

But then Owens went out with 7:17 in the second quarter due to a scary looking leg injury.

That’s when Dodgen, juniors Lacee Tinker and Makenna Lewis and freshman Destiny Balzer - playing varsity minutes for the first time this season - stepped up their games and helped G-P maintain a 33-29 lead heading into the locker rooms at intermission.

Also, Owens returned for the second half of the second quarter and seemed fine, hitting a trey with 1:55 in the half to give the Lady Blue a 29-24 lead at the time.

The teams battled back-and-forth throughout the third quarter.

G-P junior Macy Shults and sophomore Sami John hit treys from opposite corners on consecutive possessions to give the Lady Highlanders a 53-51 lead inside a minute in the third.

But Gibbs’ A.J. Whited sniped a trey just before the horn to give the Lady Eagles a slim 54-53 edge heading into the fourth period of play.

chitchcock@themountainpress.com