Everything felt right again at a fan-filled gymnasium for Liberty and Emmaus’s girls basketball season opener on Friday night when the Hornets topped the Hurricanes, 42-38, at Emmaus.

“This one’s a little different because it’s the first time in a year we have fans in the gym, so that was the big thing,” said Emmaus head coach Kelsey Gallagher. “Pregame, I know I was a little nervous because it is the first game, but we stuck to the game plan. Do what Emmaus does.”

The Hornets took control of the first quarter, penetrating the ‘Canes’ defense for six quick points from Grace Oglesbee, Kameron Watkins, and Sarah Hoch. But Liberty’s Ruby Miller ended the quarter with a three pointer, Emma Pukszyn opened the second with a three, and the Hurricanes were off to the races.

“Once the nerves got out, we started to play ball,” said Liberty head coach Jarrett Carnes. “We came out with some tempo and started to hit some shots, and we fed off that energy and got going.”

Emmaus was prompted to call a timeout after Liberty’s Layla Orth hit consecutive threes and Pukszyn added a bucket, only to be confronted by more offense from the Hurricanes when Orth hit another three.

With 56 seconds left before the half, Pukszyn intercepted a Hornet’s pass to take it in for a layup, and Erin Eisenhart’s three pointer put Liberty ahead, 28-19, as they headed to the locker room.

“We definitely felt great, but I did tell them, before we came out for the second half, ‘The third quarter is gonna decide the game,’ and that’s what happened,” said Coach Carnes.

The first 3:50 of the third was a defensive battle with no points scored by either team until Watkins landed a three at the 4:10 mark, and Liberty’s Miller responded with a three. That’s when Emmaus turned up the pressure, and Paige Inman single-handedly put the Hornets ahead, 36-33, with 10 straight points to end the quarter.

“We were down, and we knew that. We needed to have the momentum. I think we lost focus and it shifted,” Inman said. “We’ve been working hard every day, and this was one of the biggest games. We were on top in the third, so we needed to slow the game down and take over.”

The Hurricanes had their chances in the fourth quarter when Emmaus was called for two five-second violations but didn’t capitalize. Even so, the Hornets called a timeout.

“I told the girls, ‘We’re up by five points right now. Let’s take the best shot we can take. If we don’t score and play really good defense, we still win this ballgame,” Coach Gallagher said. “We dug as deep as we could, and we played team defense and were able to hold them to three points.”

And that’s what decided the game.

“I feel like we felt that we were rushed,” said Coach Carnes. “Even though there were 59 seconds left, and we were getting down to the wire, there was plenty of time. We had three or four timeouts left, and I felt that our girls felt rushed and they wanted something to happen, but sometimes it doesn’t, and you just have to play through it.”