CARY - Cary Academy’s girls basketball team cruised past Durham Academy 51-31 on Thursday in the semifinals of the Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference tournament, but ran out of gas Friday against tourney host Ravenscroft in the finals, falling to the now three-time defending champs by the score of 55-44.

Trailing by only three after the first quarter, the Chargers went cold from the field for the next eight minutes and trailed 30-18 at halftime. Cary Academy shot just 4-for-26 from the field in the first half.

“We really shot poorly,” Cary Academy coach Danielle Harber said. “But you have to give credit to Ravenscroft for playing outstanding defense. A lot of our shots did go halfway down the cylinder though. We had some tough breaks.”

Ravens coach Shon Hardy certainly saw a change in his team midway through the first half.

“We really picked up our defensive intensity in the second quarter,” Hardy said. “Plus we started driving to the basket and stopped settling for jump shots. That put a lot of pressure on them.”

The second half was played much like the first quarter with the teams simply answering the other at both ends of the court until halfway through the fourth quarter. With a little more than four minutes remaining in the game the Chargers began to chip away at the Ravenscroft lead and were able to pull to within six at the two minute mark.

“The run definitely was keyed by our intensity on defense,” Harber said. “These girls have a desire to win. They gave it their all and never quit. And if a few of those shots had gone down early, who knows?”

The Chargers would not get closer than six as the Ravens made their free throws down the stretch to put the game away. Erin Bratcher, who was named the TISAC player of the year, scored 13 and pulled down eight rebounds to lead Ravenscroft in both categories, while the Chargers’ Kelsey Lee poured in 17 to lead all scorers.

“Kelsey played with a lot of heart,” Harber said. “I know she was tired from guarding Bratcher most of the night, but she was still big for us knocking down those shots late in the game.”

Lee along with freshman Mickayla Sanders were named to the all-conference team.

Chargers boys

The Chargers boys team’s conference tournament came to an end Thursday night in the semifinals when they fell 53-46 to Durham Academy.

Cary Academy erased an early four point deficit to take a 21-19 lead into halftime, but couldn’t keep up with the Cavaliers in the final two quarters. The Chargers’ Jimmy Joyner scored a team-high 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to match Durham Academy’s Jordan Lawson, who led all scorers in the game with 27 to go along with 14 rebounds.

Cary Academy junior point guard Cameron Walton also reached double figures with 11. Both Walton and Joyner were selected to the all-conference team.