After falling behind from the start at Albemarle Tuesday, the North Moore girls’ basketball team never seemed able to get on the right track.

Midway through the third quarter, the Lady Mustangs trimmed an Albemarle eight-point halftime lead to one point when the Lady Bulldogs went on a 15-0 run and never looked back as they won by a 68-50 score.

The Bulldogs’ scoring surged was led by freshman Kyleigh McLendon, who scored on three straight possessions, with all of her baskets coming from beyond the arc for nine points. Last year’s Yadkin Valley Conference player of the year Akela Branch got the spurt started, scoring on an old-fashioned three-point play.

The Mustangs got off to slow start, not scoring their first field goal until less than three minutes were left in the period. Junior Heather Dunmyer got the Mustangs’ first field goal by hitting a turnaround jumper from the foul line. Albemarle led 9-5 at the end of the opening stanza.

The scoring pace picked up in the second quarter with Branch and North Moore’s player of the year candidate Jalisa Davis starting to find the basket. Davis scored 14 of her game-high 27 points during the period while Branch nailed 13 of her 24 points.

Albemarle led 31-23 at the break. North Moore opened the second half by scoring the first seven points with Davis hitting for one of her five three-pointers, followed by a basket by senior Mone’ Little on an assist from Davis. Davis cut the lead to 31-30 when she stole the ball near half court and went the distance for the bucket.

Albemarle put the lead back to four points on a bucket by Branch and a free throw from Janell Bruton. Davis then connected on another trey with 4:27 left in the quarter, cutting the lead to 34-33. That’s when the Bulldogs went on their scoring tear to take a 49-33 lead with 37 seconds left in the period.

Davis and Andrea Brower scored buckets sandwiched around a Bulldog basket by McLendon, giving the Bulldogs a 51-37 lead going into the final quarter.

The Bulldogs opened the fourth period outscoring North Moore 11-3 for their biggest lead of the game at 62-40. Albemarle scored 17 points during the fourth quarter while the Mustangs managed 13 points for the final 18-point margin.

With the loss, the Mustangs drop to 6-5 in conference action and 11-7 overall while the Bulldogs improved to 4-6 in league play and 5-10 overall.

Davis led the Mustangs with 27 points followed by Brower with six points.

McLendon led the Bulldogs with 26 points followed by Branch with 24 points.

The Mustangs travel to West Montgomery Friday with the girls’ game scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. followed by the boys’ game.

North Moore 5 18 14 13 — 50

Albemarle 9 22 20 17 — 68

North Moore: Davis 10 2-4 27, Brower 2 1-2 6, Dunmyer 2 0-2 4, Sheffield 0 3-3 3, Loutzenheiser 1 0-0 2, Martin 1 0-0 2, Little 1 0-0 2, Horn 0 1-4 1. Totals 17 7-15 50.

Albemarle: McLendon 9 1-4 26, Branch 11 2-5 24, Bruton 2 2-4 6, Currie 2 1-2 5, Davis-Hill 1 2-4 4, Hudson 2 0-2 4. Totals 27 8-21 68.

Three-point goals: NM 6 (Davis 5, Brower); A 6 (McLendon 6).