They say that when you fall off a horse, the best thing to do is get right back up on the horse and start riding. If that's true, then it was probably a good thing for the Emmaus girls basketball team that they were back on the court not much more than 12 hours after a tough 41-37 loss to East Stroudsburg South on Friday night.

When the girls got back on the court on Saturday in the Yasso/Rothrock Christmas City Classic, they showed no signs of a hangover from their tough opening night loss. In fact, they came out strong and went on to take a 67-61 win over Easton.

Beth Wiseley scored a career-high 23 points and was named Emmaus' MVP of the game. The 67 points are the most the team has scored under second-year coach Billy Dunn.

After building their way to a 10-point lead after the first quarter, Wiseley struck quickly in the second quarter, hitting one of her four three-pointers to put Emmaus up by 13. Easton's Nicole Pritchard did all she could to prevent her team from falling further behind and hit two three-pointers of her own to pull Easton right back into the game. Pritchard finished with 25 points for the Red Rovers.

Drea Watkins and Mandy McCarthy both scored 11 points, while senior Kelsey Bacon hit for nine points. Dunn has pointed to those three as being important players who are all showing a lot of improvement and confidence on the court this season. Watkins scored 15 in her varsity debut last season and McCarthy has worked her way into the starting lineup for Emmaus this year as a junior after seeing occasional varsity time last season. Bacon stepped in to make some starts last season and seems to have gained a lot more confidence in the early going.

"I think as a senior, I have to set a good example on the court and bring a lot of energy," said Bacon after the win.

In the opener at East Stroudsburg South, Emmaus was down 21-7 early in the game, but rallied to tie it up. Both Wiseley and Watkins fouled out late in the game and the Lady Hornets couldn't escape with a win.

While senior Anna Baer hasn't been a leading scorer in either of the first two games, she has been a strong leader on the court and Dunn has taken notice.

"I give Anna Baer a lot of credit. She is a senior and has battled through this program," said Dunn. "You might not see it on the stat sheet, but she brings a presence on the court."

Dunn has stressed that his team is young and is going to have some growing pains at times, but he believes that his players are grasping the system well and will continue to improve. Because of their personnel, Dunn has changed their defensive schemes a little and thinks it's caused some problems, but will get better. He has stated publicly that he sees Wiseley as one of the best five players in the LVC and thinks she'll get even better before her high school career is over.

Considering his team as a whole, Dunn is happy with their play, but feels they're not quite there in regards to being one of the best teams in the league.

"It's my job now to go back and say 'there are things we need to work on.' We need to work on ball handling, shorter, crisper passing lanes," said Dunn. "I still think there's that missing piece that I'm waiting for, that's still yet to come with this group."

After a quick turnaround this past weekend, the team is now off until Friday when they play at Allen before their first time on the court at home against Dieruff next Tuesday.