On Tuesday night, the Huskies played hard and showed flashes of the potential Batts knows exists, but in the end, it was host Lake Norman, which turned in the key plays of the game in a 71-69 Wildcats' victory.

A harassing Hough defense spearheaded by point guard Drexler Clark forced 25 Lake Norman turnovers, some of which were converted into buckets by Clark, who led the Huskies with 17 points, and fellow backcourt mate Jacqueaz Jackson. But when turnovers weren't being forced, there were just enough mistakes being made to dig the Huskies a hole from which they couldn't escape.

When the Huskies forced tempo, they excelled. Lake Norman slowed the pace by packing in a 2-3 zone that resulted in some poor shot selection, according to Batts. Instead of attacking the defense, the Huskies were settling for long-range attempts.

"At the end of the day, we missed four free throws in the final three minutes, and we took a ton of three-pointers and didn't make many," said Batts, whose team fell to 0-6 in the I-Meck and 4-10 overall. Lake Norman, which had lost its first four conference games before shocking West Charlotte in its last outing, improved to 2-4 in the conference and 8-5 overall.

Luke Maye and Ty Decker joined Clark in double figures with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Hough girls top 'Cats

Anna Diggs had 19 points, pacing four Hough players in double figures, as the Lady Huskies scored 41 second-half points en route to a 64-54 victory at Lake Norman. Hough (9-6, 5-1) went to the foul line 46 times, making 24 of the free throws.

Diggs swished a 35-footer at the halftime buzzer to bring the Huskies within 24-23. In the fourth quarter, it was back-to-back long-range bombs by Diggs that keyed an 18-4 run at the start of the quarter and gave Hough a 54-39 lead.

The Huskies made 14-of-18 free throws in the final quarter to keep Lake Norman (6-6, 1-5) at bay.