The verb denotes an anguishing cry of pain. The actual content of the cry can vary: it can include a complaint/lament (1 Samuel 4:13) or a declaration of faith accompanying a call for help (Psalm 142:5). The term does not appear to be a technical term for repentance, even though it is used occasionally for a confession of sin. Rather, “usage suggests it is fundamentally a cry of pain (see especially 2 Samuel 1:1 – 24:25; 2 Samuel 19:4), often accompanied by a lament over one’s condition and/or by a request for divine help. If the context does not specifically indicate that the cry was accompanied by a confession of sin, we should not assume that repentance took place."1
In fact, Judges 10:14 seems to confirm that the element of repentance is lacking. There the Israelites cry out to the Lord, and he retorts sarcastically, Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.
2
15 Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.