The Liberty Hurricanes kept their Senior Night intact with a 49-37 victory over Freedom on Jan. 13 at Liberty.

“We turned it up in the second half, and I’m proud of how they responded,” said Liberty coach Jarrett Carnes.

The biggest offensive response came from Liberty junior Emma Pukszyn who scored a game-high 20 points for the Hurricanes.

“In the second half, we wanted to go out there and play freely more because some of our plays weren’t working and they were guarding us really well, so the screens we were setting gave me an opportunity. It was just there,” Pukszyn said. “I was happy I started hitting the shots because we were kind of slow in the first half.”

Freedom took a 17-16 halftime lead, so Coach Carnes kept his message in the Hurricanes’ locker room short and direct.

“I don’t like to talk a lot,” Carnes said. “I don’t want them to lose focus on what we’re trying to do. I’ll say my couple things I’m seeing out there, and then I want them to get back out here because we’re changing buckets, so I want them to get a feel for the new rim they’ll see in the second half, and we were off in the first half, so I definitely want them to put it in the bucket before we start the second half.”

Ava Kopetskie, Ruby Miller, and Pukszyn combined for eight straight points in the third quarter, prompting a Freedom timeout by Coach Steve Raysely, but Liberty continued its offensive attack and led, 32-23, heading into the fourth quarter.

“There’s a whole different energy because it’s Bethlehem, and it’s the crosstown rival, and most of us know the girls on the other team, so it’s fun playing against people that you know,” said Pukszyn. “Our strong suit against Beca was to push it and run, so we wanted to do that against Freedom and keep running.”

Patriot guard Maliya Gonzalez had 15 points for the Patriots.

The Hurricanes who were recognized on Senior Night were Layla Orth, Aziah Wilkins, Damaya Turner, and Nana Slippe, and all saw playing time against the Pates.

“It’s not all about the points, and it’s not all about the minutes. It goes a long way,” said Carnes regarding his seniors. “You bring the energy and we can feed off that. Momentum is real, whether you get in for a minute and you play great defense, or you come out and score 20 points.”