Liberty High School's girls basketball team knew what the problems were in their 51-41 loss to Pocono Mountain West on Dec. 23, but solving them was a different matter.

Hurricane guard, Kaylin West, said, "At halftime, we figured it out ourselves. We basically changed our box and one to a diagonal."

Rebounding was also a problem, not to mention Pocono Mountain West's number five, Tiffany Benitez.

"Basically, we knew we had to shut her down, but someone would get stuck on a screen, and then there was no one there to help her," West said.

The first quarter looked promising for the Hurricanes, despite the fact that all of the Panthers' points were scored by Benitez. Baskets by West, Madison Capuano, and Kristina Polak gave Liberty a 13-9 lead.

In fact, the Hurricanes widened the gap, going into the locker room at halftime with a 21-13 lead. The Panthers closed the gap in the third quarter, trailing by only one point to start the fourth quarter.

In the final eight minutes, Pocono Mountain West picked up the pace dramatically and were outrebounding the Hurricanes.

West said, " ... and our passes, we kind of forced them in."

Pocono Mountain West's Letitia Sealy also became a threat offensively and defensively as Benitez hit two three pointers within the final five minutes of the game.

Even though it was obvious the Panthers prevailed, Liberty called a timeout with only seconds left in an attempt to execute a specific play revolving around Capuano, and it was successful.

"It was a quick-hitter to her, set up specifically for her," said West.

Capuano took a three-point shot at the buzzer which counted.

"All we talked about was being 7-2. It sounds so much better than 6-3," West said.

The Hurricanes' other losses were to Easton and North Pocono.

Also last week, Freedom defeated East Stroudsburg North, 39-29, and Bethlehem Catholic defeated Pleasant Valley, 76-19.