Gladbrook-Reinbeck freshman Lily Dripps (12) shoots over North Tama defenders Briar Blake (23) and Mya Sierra (11) during the first half of Tuesday’s non-conference basketball game in Reinbeck. Dripps had nine points in the Rebels’ 47-42 win.

Basketball is a game of runs — and the fickleness of the game was on full display Tuesday night in Gladbrook-Reinbeck girls’ basketball’s 47-42 victory over visiting North Tama.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (5-5) led 11-10 after the first quarter but gave up a 19-5 run across the second and third quarters, facing a 13-point deficit with four minutes left in the third quarter.

What happened next was a 16-3 run to end the period tied at 32 — and putting North Tama (1-7) on its heels.

G-R then took a 42-35 lead with three minutes left and held on despite a late Redhawks push to seal the win — a third straight victory for the surging Rebels ahead of the winter break.

Head coach Amber Gerringer said the Rebels have become used to close finishes throughout the season.

“We’ve played a lot of close games and so they are kind of experienced in that,” Gerringer said. “We do a pretty good job of riding out the storm. I think the big thing was just pushing through being tired from playing three games in a row here and turning defense into offense.”

The Redhawks’ extended run in the middle of the game to take control of proceedings was aided by a 3-point barrage — North Tama made seven over the course of the game (four from Izzy Hallett and one each from Ava Breakenridge, Jules Breakenridge and Mya Sierra).

Offense inside the arc was hard to come by throughout for the Redhawks as G-R posts Katie Clark and Lily Dripps made things difficult even without Megan Cooley, who the team hopes is back after the winter break.

Head coach Shawn Larmore said the size advantage G-R had was tough to overcome.

“They’re both good players and we kind of got ourselves in some foul trouble,” Larmore said. “We’re not real deep and I thought that kind of hurt us once we had to go with a little smaller lineup tonight.”

A balanced attack from G-R in the second half, led by scoring from Lauren Boyer (team-high 13 points, three 3-pointers) and 10 points from Clark, pushed the Rebels into the lead. Dripps made a big impact in the fourth quarter and scored all nine of her points in the second half.

There were wobbles, but steady free throw shooting from Mahayla Olson (6-for-7 at the line) helped seal the deal.

Now at .500 at the break, Gerringer said the Rebels can use this time to make the next step and add to what they’ve had success with.

“[I think] just seeing if there’s any ways we can expand on what we’re doing and add a few new things there,” Gerringer said.