Liberty’s girls basketball team held off Emmaus in an overtime battle pulled out by the Hurricanes, 56-50, on Dec. 19 at Liberty.

“They’re such strong defenders and competitors, and I applaud them for that, but we knew we had to keep pushing because they were going to keep pushing just as hard,” said Liberty’s Jordan Thompson, who had the Hurricanes’ only basket outside of foul shots in the overtime period. “We all just wanted to get the basket, and I think Emma (Pukszyn) getting that open look at the end and me being able to finish, it was a great basket, and it really pushed us, and I think that’s how we ended up winning this game.”

Liberty had an eight-point lead at halftime and maintained the gap to the end of the third quarter.

Emmaus, however, went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter when Kayla Snyder hit a 3-pointer, and Gabby DeVita scored after knocking the ball away and into the hands of Snyder who passed it back to DeVita.

Snyder then came up with a defensive rebound for Mya Cooper, and DeVita gave the Hornets their first lead on 3-pointer with 5:15 left in regulation.

Liberty guard Ruby Miller (12 points) came through for the Hurricanes’ stalled offense on a 3-pointer to take back the lead at 3:30.

“They put a lot of pressure on us, which made it hard for us to get shots off,” Miller said. “We were also letting some things go on defense.”

Both teams fought for every bounce for the next two minutes, and after trading fouls, Cooper’s 3-pointer tied the game, 48-48.

“I was worried when Cooper’s shot hit the rim, went straight up, and then dropped in, but I knew that being that we were up three, they get a three, it’s extra basketball,” Coach Carnes said. “They were changing our pace to making us hurry up, and I like to tell the girls that when we’re having a lead and it’s later in the game, we can just be patient. If we’re up, we can run the clock forever.”

Liberty guard Ava Kopetskie (17 points) scored six points on free throws in overtime.

“A couple tough buckets Emmaus got can drain our energy, but the girls on the bench kept it coming. The girls on the floor kept it coming, and our fans kept it coming, so it was a great night,” said Carnes. “I think it was a collective effort from everybody. We wanted to collect our EPC win so we could finally get into the EPCs (conference playoffs).”