Both Salisbury and Southern Lehigh entered last week's Colonial League girls' basketball matchup at 3-0 in conference play.

While one team would be dealt their first loss of the season, the other would remain the only unbeaten team in the South Division.

And despite coming up on the short end of a 48-43 loss in overtime to the Spartans (5-2 overall; 4-0 in Colonial League) at Southern Lehigh High School, the Falcons (4-1 overall; 3-1 in Colonial League) gave the league champions of the past three seasons all they could handle.

"We don't want them to be content with this being close," Salisbury head coach Joe Mladosich said. "We were right there to win, and we need to beat a quality team like they are. We will get there because we are getting better. We had a lot of turnovers we can improve. If they're willing to work hard every day at practice, we'll get there."

Kelly Gonoude tied the game at 40-40 with a three-pointer from the right wing with 11 seconds to play in regulation. After Gonoude was fouled with 0.3 seconds left in regulation on her rebound following a missed three-pointer from the Spartans, a missed free throw sent the game into overtime.

Salisbury's Meagan Eripret, who tallied a game-high 21 points to go along with 15 rebounds and five blocks, connected on a three-point play to open up the overtime session, giving the Falcons a 43-30 lead. The Spartans scored the next eight points while the Falcons were held scoreless.

Madelene McDonald, a 2013 Colonial League First-Team All-Star, and Brianna Prince, a 2013 Colonial League Second-Team All-Star, each scored four points in the extra frame for Southern Lehigh.

"Meagan [Eripret] competes every day, day-in and day-out," Mladosich said. "We take her for granted sometimes that she's going to get 20 and 20. She worked very hard today to get her points. McDonald is a tremendous player as well."

Despite going toe-to-toe with the class of the Colonial League in recent seasons, and seeing a prime opportunity to hand the Spartans their first loss come up short, Mladosich had nothing but high praise for his team's effort.

"I think our kids learned that they can compete at this level in our Colonial League," Mladosich said. "Hopefully we will build on that. The loss is huge, but [I want us to] build on it."

While it was the Falcons in control for much of the first half, outscoring the Spartans by five in the final 16 minutes, things didn't start off so well for the visitors.

The Spartans' pressure forced the Falcons into 12 turnovers in the first quarter, and Southern Lehigh led by as many as nine points to open the game. The Falcons committed 19 first-half turnovers and trailed 23-18 going into the break.

"We came out really flat," Mladosich said. "I thought we really put a lot of pressure on us, and we turned it over quite a bit. We rebounded well [and] we came back. The kids hung in there, and they played hard."

Melann Amory opened up the third quarter with a three-pointer that increased the Spartans' lead to 26-18. But the Falcons went on to score 11 of the next 12 points, capped off by two free throws by Lindsay Bauer that gave Salisbury its first lead, 29-27.

Bauer finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. She hit all six of her free throw attempts. Gonoude had seven points and four steals.

McDonald tallied a team-high 20 points and 10 boards for the Spartans, while Amory scored nine and Prince added eight.

Results from Monday's nonconference game at Blue Mountain were not available at time of press. The Falcons will host the Salisbury Girls Basketball Holiday Tournament on Friday and Saturday.