BELLBROOK — Hitting refresh to start Tuesday’s game against Kings paid off at the finish of a close win for Bellbrook.

Some fresh faces in the starting lineup helped the Golden Eagles get some competitive juices going early in a 46-42 win at home against the Knights. Eva Koesters and Lauren Fabrick got the nod and played big parts in the win.

Fabrick scored nine points to tie her season-high, while Koesters had the game-clinching free throw in the final seconds.

“We just brought some starters off the bench and I thought that was a plus,” head coach Jason Tincher said. “It was a possession type of game. Every basket counted as nobody got up more than seven, maybe eight points.”

Locked in a tight score late, the Golden Eagles were again able to turn away from their stars to hold off a late charge.

Taylor Scohy had 11 points, but fouled out with just over a minute left. Bellbrook (7-2) led by four when the SWBL’s leader in scoring had to exit and Kings steadily cut the lead down to one a possession at a time afterward.

“It’s so stressful and weird,” Scohy said of having to watch the win from the bench. “I knew they were going to be fine, but we needed to make our free throw and just be calm because we have so many young players.”

Her intuition was correct with Bellbrook taking command in the final seconds and capped the win with Koesters’ make on the back end of two shots with just over seven seconds left.

Bellbrook remembered last year’s meeting, which ended on a buzzer beating shot by Kings to win in its game during the regular season finale. The game was on its way to potentially being determined on a similar attempt before Bellbrook battled its way out of trouble.

“It was a grind to get that win, but it was a big game that we wanted to win as it served as one of our goals,” Scohy said.

“They’re just well coached and athletic,” Tincher said of Kings. “They’re similar to us personnel and they’ve got a 1,000-point scorer in [Kassidy] Ingram, but I was very pleased with how we competed with them.”

Jordan Frantz led Bellbrook with 15 points, 10 of which came in the first quarter to keep her team ahead early. Ingram had a game-high 18 points for Kings.

Bellbrook only has three home games remaining of its final 13 regular season contests. The Golden Eagles like to load the schedule with difficult tests as it has already gone through partly with games against Mount Notre Dame and Mason in addition to Tuesday’s contest.

Many of those remaining road games won’t be easy either with trips to several GWOC powers, Olentangy and Tri-Village still ahead.

A win under their belt leading into the gauntlet is something Tincher said he’s happy his team was able to get and having it done with some younger players stepping into key roles gives him the belief they will be better for it down the stretch of the season.

“Competition is really good for us,” Tincher said. “No doubt about it, I can see out girls hopefully building confidence with this tonight. January is going to be tough, so we should take care of this home court.”

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.