It’s a war every time they meet up in an almost century-old rivalry between Chapel Hill and Lynchburg and Thursday night was just another installment in the clash with Moore County coming out on top after pulling off a 58-55 comeback win over the Lady Rockets.

“It’s a game that we could have and should have won,” Forrest coach Jeremy Jean said. “Fifty-five points is enough to win a game, we have to get better at playing team defense.”

“We didn’t last night for about the first five minutes of the game and the first five of the fourth quarter.”

Forrest (10-3) was seemingly in control, leading by 13 points late in the third quarter before the Raiderettes stormed back with a 9-0 run to end the period and Moore County (10-4) outscored the Lady Rockets 20-13 in the vital fourth quarter to steal the win.

The two teams will square off again Saturday at Lynchburg in probably the last meeting in the fabled Moore County gymnasium where so many great games have been played between the two schools.

Jean knows all about playing and coaching at Lynchburg as he was a member of the 1999 state championship squad at Moore County and as a Forrest coach, Jean has a 9-15 overall record versus the Raiderettes and is 4-7 at Moore County since taking over in 2008.

“It’s an awesome place, the memories I had there as a player are special,” Jean said. “It would be special to win there next week, a lot of the things that have happened in that gym made me who I am as a person today.”

The Raiderettes started Thursday’s game with the hot hand, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Forrest came back to cut the lead to two points at 9-7.

Moore County surged again, outscoring the Lady Rockets 5-2 to take a 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.

An Ally Blanton bucket and a Jaide Langley rebound and put-back, followed by a Laura Mealer steal and score made it a 14-13 contest.

The two teams traded baskets before Mealer tied the game at 18 on a 3-pointer with 4:10 remaining in the second quarter.

With the game knotted at 20, Anna Blanton fired home a 3-pointer to give Forrest its first lead of the game with two minutes remaining in the first half and after one made free throw by Regan Corder, the Lady Rockets got two free throws by Ally Blanton and a jumper by Macyn Kirby to go to the locker room with a 27-21 lead.

The Raiderettes fought back with an 8-2 run to begin the second half to trail by two points before Forrest got red hot.

The Lady Rockets were clicking on all cylinders as they shot off a 12-2 run, capped off by an Ally Blanton basket that gave Forrest a 42-29 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the third period.

As fast as the hot streak began, it went south just as quick as the Raiderettes went on a 9-0 run, capped off by a Madison Floyd bucket in the paint to cut the Forrest lead to 42-38, entering the fourth quarter.

“We started the game off down around 10 in the first five minutes,” Jean said. “After that we outscored them 38-15 to take a 42-29 lead and we were playing great defense and getting easy looks on offense.”

“Then Anna went out with an injury and we couldn’t ever get that flow back.”

Another Floyd bucket in the low post, followed by a Kerrigan Fanning 3-pointer put the Raiderettes in front with 6:25 left in the contest.

One Carolyna Driver free throw gave Moore County a two-point lead before Carissa Curtis tied the game with a 3-pointer and Forrest called timeout with 4:58 remaining in the game.

The Raiderettes missed out of the stoppage and Curtis scored on a drive to the hoop to put the Lady Rockets in front 47-44.

Fanning answered with another 3-pointer to tie the game and the Raiderettes went ahead by three points soon after.

Curtis buried two free throws with 2:03 left in the contest, cutting the Moore County lead to one point at 50-49, but the Raiderettes went on a 4-0 mini-run to take a 54-49 lead with just over a minute to play.

Ally Blanton hit the front end of a one-and-one opportunity from the free throw line before Moore County came up with a clutch 4-for-5 effort from the charity stripe and led 56-52 when Forrest called timeout with 23.3 seconds left in the contest.

Curtis buried a 3-pointer out of the stoppage and Forrest fouled Richards, who canned both free throws to make it a three-point game and Jean called timeout again with 13.1 seconds left.

The Lady Rockets ran a set play out of the stoppage and found Langley, who fired up the 3-pointer that spun out and Moore County left Chapel Hill with its third win in a row.

“The late game execution overall was good,” Jean said. “The biggest thing for me is that twice out of the last four games we have been out hustled and we lost them both.”

“Summertown and Moore County overall got after it more than we did. They got all the 50/50 balls. That is a thing that we don’t usually do and I feel like it won’t happen again.”

Curtis led all scorers in the game with 18 points while Ally Blanton and Mealer were also in double figures for the Lady Rockets with 13 points apiece.

Richards had 16 points to lead Moore County and Driver was also in double figures with 11.

“We couldn’t get that stop we needed, we did a good job of fouling at the right times and blocking out on free throws,” Jean said. “And with no timeouts left the girls did a good job of getting a good look at the end of the game. It just didn’t fall.”

Forrest hosts Eagleville (6-6) tonight. The Lady Rockets stomped the Lady Eagles 66-39 at Eagleville on December 13.

Moore County 14 7 17 20-58

Forrest 7 20 15 13-55

Moore County (58): Olivia Richards 16, Carolyna Driver 11, Chloe Brazier 9, Kerrigan Fanning 8, Regan Corder 6, Ericka Clifton 4, Madison Floyd 4.

Three-point goals (5): Richards 2, Fanning 2, Corder.

Free Throws (16-for-24): Driver 5-for-6, Richards 4-for-6, Corder 2-for-4, Clifton 2-for-2, Fanning 2-for-2, Brazier 1-for-2, Macy Fletcher 0-for-2.

Forrest (55): Carissa Curtis 18, Ally Blanton 13, Laura Mealer 13, Jaide Langley 4, Anna Blanton 3, Shea Lewis 2, Macyn Kirby 2.

Three-point goals (5): Curtis 2, Anna Blanton, Ally Blanton, Mealer.

Free Throws (12-for-14): Ally Blanton 4-for-5, Curtis 4-for-4, Mealer 2-for-3, Lewis 2-for-2.

Halftime Score: Forrest 27, Moore County 21.