Emmaus starts just one senior, and plays just one other in the regular rotation. While that bodes well for the future, a bit of the Hornets’ inexperience showed late in last week’s game against Liberty.

It turns out a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough of a cushion. The Hurricanes (3-8 overall; 2-6 in EPC) finished the game on a 13-0 run to hand Emmaus a tough 34-31 defeat last Friday at Liberty High School.

“I think it was a lot of our youth and inexperience in a tight game kind of showed,” Emmaus head coach Kelsey Gallagher said. “We tried everything we could. We had some silly turnovers. We kind of got undisciplined and weren’t really running the offense. We made some fouls, and Liberty is a nice team and they stepped up.”

The Hurricanes made eight of their 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, including a perfect 4-for-4 in the final minute.

Deadlocked at 14-14 heading into halftime, Emmaus (2-11; 1-8) separated itself with a strong third quarter. Sophomore Gabrielle Martin played a key part in the Hornets’ 12-4 run in the frame, scoring eight of Emmaus’s 12 points.

Junior Alyssa Burkhart set up Martin early in the quarter for a mid-range jumper that put Emmaus in front. Moments later she recorded another field goal, and then Burkhart’s rebound and putback gave Emmaus its largest lead at the time at 23-17.

“[Martin] had a big third quarter,” Gallagher said. “We just talked about staying within, and doing defensively and offensively what we do at practice and every game. We talk about everything stemming from defense.”

After a quick start early in the fourth quarter, Liberty’s defensive pressure got to the inexperienced Hornets. The Hornets’ lead grew to 31-21 after Martin drained a deep three-pointer and junior Brooke Wunderler finished a second-chance opportunity down low.

Liberty went on to force several rushed shots and turnovers down the stretch to cut into Emmaus’ lead, and ultimately overcome that double-digit deficit. Erin Eisenhart hit a shot from long range that got the Hurricanes within 31-26 midway through the quarter, and then Liberty’s stellar free throw shooting took over down the stretch.

“Whenever any team presses a lot of teams turn up the tempo themselves,” Gallagher said. “With as young of a team that we are, we just have to take a deep breath, get across half court and run our offense. That will come with time.

“Our 2-10 record doesn’t speak to what we do day-in and day-out. It’s just taking it day-by-day and each game being prepared. When it comes to seeing pressure, we just have to be able to handle it.”

Martin scored 12 points in the game to lead Emmaus, while Burkhart and Wunderler each had five. Kathryn Wescoe led Liberty with 11.