"We could have expected it, but not that bad," was Jeff Jacksits' reaction to his team's loss at Nazareth on Friday.

Jacksits, coach of the Northampton girls basketball team, expected Nazareth "to be upbeat, but I didn't expect us to look so bad," after the Blue Eagles routed the Konkrete Kids 70-47 in a Lehigh Valley Conference game.

"We had rubber-legs and our defense just didn't communicate," said Jacksits about the game, as Nazareth took a 22-9 lead after the first eight minutes. "We expected them to be upbeat with the return of (Kassie) Behler, the Nazareth floor general."

Behler scored only five, but her ball handling seemed to baffle the Kids and Nazareth got a lot of shots on back door screens.

"After we were down we rallied several times, but Nazareth got a lot of ticky-tack baskets while we were missing our shots," added Jacksits. "It's no excuse, but Friday was the last day before our holiday break and a lot of our seniors participated in a Senior Play Day tournament at school and were just worn out. I'd never deny the seniors of enjoying themselves but our girls overdid it."

As usual, Leandra Sterner was top scorer for the Kids with 22 points with four three-pointers along the way, Giovanna Martinez added seven.

But, the Kids rebounded Saturday when they topped visiting East Stroudsburg South 63-54 in a nonleague game to put the Kids' record at 3-2.

"We communicated a lot better against the Cavaliers and our height advantage helped. We also hit on 16 of 20 foul shots, and that's a big improvement over one of our weaknesses," said Jacksits.

Sterner again set the pace with 31 points while Martinez contributed 11 with three three-pointers. Zeniyah Sanders added nine and Aja Blount seven.

The Kids take on North Hunterdon, N.J., in the Petey Krah Christmas Classic Friday with host Central Catholic meeting Pennsbury in the second game with the finals set for Saturday at Rockne Hall.

Northampton gets back to LVC play at Emmaus Friday, Jan. 3, then entertain Dieruff on Jan. 7 before taking on Parkland at home Thursday, Jan. 9, in a game being played as a fundraiser for autism.