Liberty’s girls’ basketball team expected a dogfight with Whitehall, prepared for the Zephyrs’ third quarter comeback, and executed their way to a 49-38 victory last Tuesday night at Liberty.

“I think we withstood their charge. We expected it to be a dogfight all the way through. I think our handling of pressure was very good tonight. We had limited turnovers, so that’s helping us quite a bit,” said Liberty coach Andy Wescoe. “To beat Whitehall tonight, a home game, the kids played well. The kids are very happy with the execution tonight and certainly happy with the win.”

The Hurricanes took a 26-15 lead into the locker room at halftime, but there was plenty of work to be done in the second half.

“We had to keep on knocking down shots because usually after halftime, we have no offense. That’s what started happening during the third quarter, but during the fourth quarter, we hit our shots,” said Hurricane guard Kathryn Wescoe. “We had to pressure them and not foul, and 22 (Grace Clary) is pretty good in the post. We had to lock her down and Julie [Curti] did pretty good at that, and then we just had to have good defense and not let them shoot threes.”

Wescoe scored four quick points to start the fourth quarter, but Whitehall guard Katie Kelly managed to hit a three soon after. Kelly had also scored a triple at the end of the third quarter when the Zephyrs cut the Hurricanes’ lead to two points.

“Our coaches did a good job of making us aware of her and they put somebody in to watch her,” said Liberty guard Bridget MacDonald. “I think we’ve gotten better at our man-to-man sets and that made the difference tonight, and at the end of the game, you have to know how to win and we did that. In the past we have not been too good at holding people off but tonight we were able to do it and it felt really good.”

MacDonald and Wescoe had 28 points between them, including a three by Wescoe at the end of the first quarter that bounced off the rim and landed in the basket. Freshman Erin Eisenhardt added 15 points. Analysse Solomon had two points and Curti had four.

“Erin played a great game tonight, and I think she grew up tonight. She handled the ball more, she was more effective going to the basket, she was willing to go to the basket and fight pressure and get in the gaps to create for herself and create for others, and she was stellar from the line at the end,” said Coach Wescoe.

Eisenhardt grabbed a rebound in the second quarter to take it the length of the court and score. In the same quarter, MacDonald had a three, and Wescoe scored on a forced turnover. Curti scored on a quick pass from Solomon midway through the fourth quarter to secure the Hurricanes’ lead at that point, 40-33.

“It feels really good to get a win,” said MacDonald. “We’ve been pretty defeated the last couple seasons, but we’re not giving up and we’re learning to play 32 minutes together.”

Thee days later, the Hurricanes took on Emmaus and defeated the Hornets in a comeback win, 34-31.