The Whitehall girls basketball team was looking to make a little history of their own as they traveled to Rockne Hall last Saturday amid the hoopla that accompanied their annual Hall of Fame ceremonies.

It’s been over seven years since they’ve defeated the Vikettes, and when went up by one at the half, the Zephyrs were preparing to shrug off those green and gold shackles that have been applied too long.

Head coach Dwight Repsher said they were down early, but then “pulled themselves together” to take that one point lead into intermission. They were trailing by four after the first period, but outscored ACC by five in the second to gain that one-point advantage.

However, that lead dissipated in the third as the Vikettes took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter and then held on for a 38-33 victory.

The loss drops the Zephs to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

The Zephs host Nazareth on Dec. 22, and then travel to Pottsville for the Pottsville Christmas Tournament beginning Dec. 26.

Repsher concedes that Rockne Hall isn’t an easy place to play, and there have been times in the past when they’ve been thumped in that storied gym, but he believes those days are gone, and if they continue to make strides, they’ll eventually throw off those shackles. To underscore that point, he said that their junior varsity team lost in overtime to ACC.

As for Friday’s varsity game, Whitehall was 11-for-33 from the field. It’s a far cry from the game against Stroudsburg when they made nine threes and scored 60 points. They were also out rebounded by a significant margin, with Ivanna leading the team with seven boards.

He said that Central’s size posed a problem, and they also try to take away some of your strengths offensively.

“Central doesn’t let you do certain things,” said Repsher. “We’re trying to do things that aren’t there.”

They also committed too many turnovers and that also tilted the floor in Central’s favor. Additionally, they only got to the foul line seven times the entire game.

Still, they we’re mounting a comeback in that final period but just ran out of time. Taylor George led the Zephs with 13 points, while Ivanna Jones added seven and Jill Kreglow dropped in six.

Repsher said that they’ll take a lesson from this game.

“We have to learn how to win these games,” he said.

Still, he thought it was a strong matchup between two good teams who only had two losses between them heading into the game.

“It was a good game,” said Repsher.

The Zephs host Nazareth, the reigning district champs on Dec. 22, and then travel to Pottsville for the Pottsville Christmas Tournament.