Liberty’s girls’ basketball team ended its season on a high note with a 34-25 victory over Dieruff last month at Liberty.

“In this game, we showed we are in this league now, and we made an impact,” said freshman forward Erin Eisenhart. “This is a good thing to go into next season to prove to people we’re here next year, and we’re going to be back in this.”

The Hurricanes improved on last season’s record with seven wins.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” said Liberty coach Andy Wescoe. “As the year went along, our execution on the offensive end against pressure and against bigger teams has improved.”

Two big threes, one by Kat Wescoe and one by Morgan Bokan near the end of the first quarter sparked the Hurricane offense which had been taking good shots early, although most did not fall.

“I think we kind of came out a little shaky because it is our last game, and we wanted to put it all out there for our senior (Bridget MacDonald), and I think confidence is a big part of our game, so once we got it going, we were going,” said Bokan. “It just took us awhile to get there.”

Bokan hit another three early in the second quarter, and Eisenhart scored soon after on a turnover, taking a five-point lead at halftime.

It was the third quarter that proved somewhat troublesome for the Hurricanes when Destiny Smith had consecutive threes, and the Huskies’ defense tightened, holding Liberty to seven points with three of those on free throws, while Dieruff scored 12.

“They came out in man against us and we weren’t expecting it, to be honest,” said Bokan. “We were a little shaky against it and having trouble getting into some of our sets, but we picked it up and were able to get the lead back.”

With the score tied at 22-22 to begin the fourth quarter, Liberty started its own pressure, Wescoe had a three-point play, and Eisenhart forced a turnover that resulted in two more points by Wescoe.

“We were there. We were always there,” said Eisenhart. “[Coach Wescoe] just needed us to focus more and keep our skill level.”

Dieruff’s Kalis Collazo then scored, and Makenzi Rupp, who challenged the Hurricanes with her height on the inside, hit one free throw, but Liberty went at the Huskies again, and after four more points by Eisenhart, MacDonald closed out the game with three points on free throws.

“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves and if we get a few more shots to go, we make it easier on ourselves, but I love our kids, and I give our kids credit,” said Coach Wescoe. “They don’t stop, there’s a ton of fight in them, they played defense the whole game, and they played through all those misses.”