MOREHEAD — Raceland punched its ticket to the girls’ 16th Region semifinals with a 43-37 win over Bath County on Monday in Morehead State’s Wetherby Gymnasium.

The Lady Rams will face Ashland (23-4) Friday night.

“We had every chance to lose the game and found some way to win,” said Raceland coach Bob Trimble.

The teams battled back and forth through much of the fourth quarter but the Lady Rams (19-12) took a 39-37 lead on Brooke Keeton’s basket with nearly two minutes to play. Bath County (10-19) got just three shots off from the field the rest of the way. Raceland made four of five free throws in the final minutes to ice the game.

“We knew they were a very good free-throw shooting team,” Bath County coach Arlen McNabb said of Raceland. “We played them twice in the regular season and they were 24-of-32. We knew if we had to foul, it would be tough for us.”

Raceland, typically a 70-percent free-throw shooting team, went 6-of-13 in the first 3 _ quarters.

“We’ve shot free throws well throughout the year,” Trimble said. “Down the stretch we’ve held on and put several games away at the line. When we needed them, we stepped up.”

The Lady Rams held Bath County scoreless for four minutes to open the game but only built a 5-0 lead. The Lady Cats battled back with a 17-2 run that carried over into the second quarter. While holding Raceland scoreless for 7 _ minutes and getting several unforced turnovers, Bath County built a 17-7 lead.

"This was just a weird game all around,” Trimble said. “Balls were going through our hands, hitting us in the face or we were just sticking it right in their hands.”

“We were able to use some of our young players that have a little more quickness,” McNabb said. “That was our game plan, to spread the floor and make their bigger people on the inside work a little bit harder.

“They didn’t get shook when we made a little run at them and took the lead. They did what they had to and took advantage of their size and height on the inside and that was really the difference in the game there.”

The Lady Rams did not turn the ball over at all in the second quarter and held Bath County to just six attempts from the field. The Lady Rams eventually got on the board with Kasey Lewis’ three-point play with 4:02 remaining, which sparked a 17-3 run to end the frame ahead 24-20.

The teams traded buckets in the third quarter until Bath County’s Lexy Grimes nailed a 3 from the top of the key, pulling the Lady Cats within two. Dapheney Helton converted a three-point play with 45.2 seconds to go to put Bath County ahead 30-29 going into the final stanza.

“I think we were on the verge of an upset there but Raceland’s a team with experienced players,” McNabb said. “We knew coming in here it was a long shot but our girls played their hearts out.”

The Lady Cats were led by Chelsea Razor’s 14 points. Ginny Adams added 11.

“Our girls are proud but we’re not satisfied,” McNabb said. “We’ll build on this and hopefully make it back-to-back trips next year.”

Raceland had two post-players notch a double-double. Keeton scored 16 and hauled down 13 rebounds. Kasey Lewis added 11 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Rachel Vanderhoof added seven points off the bench.

Friday’s game against Ashland tips off at 6:30 p.m.