Liberty’s girls basketball team was riding high with upsets of Pocono Mountain West and Northampton in district playoffs last week, so their 56-34 loss to Easton in the District XI Class 6A final on March 3 at Whitehall High School was especially hard on the Hurricanes.

“It’s tough,” said Liberty coach Jarrett Carnes. “Our confidence was through the roof. We got to see (Vataijah) Davis with Pocono Mountain West and (Grace) Lesko with Northampton. We took it to them, and we saw Easton twice this year, and at home, we gave them a run for their money, so tonight, we were leaving it all out there. We knew it was gonna be a great environment and that they were gonna sit in their zone, and they’re a little bit bigger than us, but we were gonna go hard.”

Liberty guard Ruby Miller had the hot hand in the first half with three 3-pointers, but Easton’s four-point lead at the end of the first quarter along with two runs in the second quarter gave the Red Rovers a 15-point halftime advantage.

“We knew we had an opportunity to be in it, and we were. We were in it,” said Hurricane guard Layla Orth, “but the rebounding killed us, and I think their ball movement is phenomenal, and it’s very hard to keep a consistent defense.”

Easton’s clear height advantage in forwards Evalyse Cole and Anye’ Staton provided all of the Red Rovers’ third-quarter points with the exception of a free throw by Kourin Carew.

Liberty jump started its offense with nine points posted by Ava Kopetskie and a 3-pointer by Orth, but still not enough to close the 15-point gap.

“Our ball movement was our main thing,” Orth said. “We didn’t hit the shots we wanted to hit up until the very end, so I think we expected to hit them tonight as anybody would, but it just didn’t work to our advantage tonight. This isn’t a feeling I think any of us will forget. It stings tonight, so that’ll work to our benefit because we don’t want to feel like this again.”

The Hurricane silver medalists will enter the PIAA Class 6A state playoffs with their first match against District 1’s Upper Dublin, scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 10 at Liberty.

“I’m proud of them, super proud of them. It’s not done yet. We still have states, and I told them we’ll be back here again next year. I know they wanted gold, and I’m sad with them,” Carnes said. “I’m looking forward to jumping back into it, seeing different opponents. It’ll be nice to see new teams and see how we bounce back from a loss like this.”