After a loss earlier this season and recent struggles against Hebron, the Coppell girls basketball team was eager to redeem itself in its second matchup against the Hawks.

And that’s exactly what it did.

Coppell defeated Hebron, 50-49, on Tuesday night in the CHS Arena. Coppell led by junior forward India Howard scoring 18 points and senior forward Chloe Hassman scoring 12 points.

With 2:59 left to play, Coppell freshman guard Jules Lamendola scored to put the Cowgirls up, 49-47. Hebron came back to tie the score, giving Coppell one final chance to win.

It was with 20 seconds left when Howard was fouled, sending her to the line with a chance to put Coppell ahead.

“I knew I needed to sink just one [free throw],” Howard said. “I tried to hone in on the basket, block out the people around me, calm down, breathe. Rather than get caught up in the pressure of the game, I just needed to let it go.”

Howard hit the first free throw and this was enough to give Coppell a victory.

“I’m proud of us and how we played tonight. We honed in on a bunch of skills we lacked in the first half of district, and now we’ve got three wins in a row,” Hassman said. “We’ve got three games left. We’re on the rise, things are coming together for us, and we’re gonna keep working hard so we can end this season strong.”

Coppell coach Ryan Murphy’s message this season to the Cowgirls has been to play with consistency.

“Our consistency this game was better, but it’s not where it needs to be by a long stretch,” Murphy said. “I thought we did a good job with it in the last quarter of the game today, but there were too many plays that we gave up, especially in the third quarter.”

The Cowgirls host Lewisville on Friday in the CHS Arena, with tipoff at 6:30 p.m.

Follow Joanne (@joan_kimm) and @SidekickSports on Twitter.