Bethlehem Catholic’s girls basketball team hosted Cardinal O’Hara, the defending PIAA State Class 4A champs, on Monday night, but a tie at halftime ended in a 48-29 victory for the Lions.

“They’re state champs and when we took the game, that’s what we wanted,” said Becahi head coach Jose Medina. “You know, iron sharpens iron, so for us, what better way to find out early about ourselves than to have the state champs come here.”

The Golden Hawks scored nine straight points midway through the second quarter to take a 16-15 lead. Keyara Walters sank two free throws and scored two more points, Yarian Fernandez hit a three pointer, and Cydney Stanton also sank both of her foul shots.

Becahi then forced a turnover, Akasha Santos rebounded a missed shot and made a pass inside to Ella Bincarosky who converted to make it 18-15, Hawks.

Molly Rullo tied the game for Cardinal O’Hara, and the teams headed to the locker room knotted at 18.

“We hung with them for two-and-a-half quarters, but they took it up another notch,” Coach Medina said. “We have to learn that, when teams do that, we have to match that intensity. That’s something we’ll get better at as the season continues.”

Cardinal O’Hara’s full court pressure in the third quarter created multiple scoring opportunities for the Lions resulting in an 11 point lead entering into the final eight minutes.

“They did a great job of speeding us up and taking away some things we like to get to. We’ll make the adjustments, and we’ll be better for it,” said Medina. “The margin of error is so small. Sometimes we want to run this, but the defense takes that away. OK, how do we counteract that within the confines of what we run?”

The Hawks will have had less than 24 hours to regroup for their EPC matchup against Northampton on Tuesday night, past Press deadlines.

“We can’t hang our heads. We’ve got another tough team coming in here with seven or eight wins, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Medina said. “Early on, let’s get everybody’s best shot, and let’s see what we’re capable of doing.”