Spartans come up short

It wasn't the way three seniors wanted to go out.

"We gave it all that we had," said East Nicolaus senior guard Kylie Watson. "I guess we shouldn't have waited until we were down by 17 to try and come back."

No. 6 East Nicolaus committed far too many turnovers in the first half, missed too many shots in the second half and, ultimately, dug a hole too deep to climb out of in a 53-41 loss to Liberty Christian in a Northern Section Division V girls basketball playoff opener on Tuesday.

No. 11 Liberty Christian (11-14) sophomore guard Hannah Womack slashed through defenders to lead her team with 16 points, stealing the show in East Nicolaus' gym.

"No. 15 is a very, very solid player," said East Nicolaus coach Robert Wolcott. "She goes right and left very smoothly, and that gave us some trouble tonight."

Trouble came early for East Nicolaus, and it never really let up.

A couple of baskets in the paint were all the Spartans could muster up in the first quarter, which was riddled with 10 turnovers.

"I was 90 percent frustrated with the way we played in that first half," Wolcott said. "But I was pleased with the effort."

Defensively, East Nicolaus forced Liberty Christian to settle for early 3-point shots, and while a good majority of them rimmed out, the rebounds were scooped up by the Patriots.

Liberty Christian pulled down 13 first-quarter rebounds, five of which were offensive rebounds on a single possession, and the Patriots jumped out to a 15-4 lead after one period.

"We got to a lot of loose balls and got a lot of second chances because of that," said Liberty Christian coach Shawn Flaherty.

East Nicolaus went into the locker room down 29-15, but for three seniors, the game was far from over.

Heilani Tupou drove to the hoop, got to the foul line and provided an early spark for the Spartans in the third quarter. Kristyn Hansen stepped up her level of play on the defensive end and Watson's all-around hustle aided a Spartans comeback in the midst of being down by 17 points.

"In the locker room at the half, I told the freshmen, sophomores and juniors 'to remember how hard these three played tonight,'" Wolcott said, "And I thanked them for their effort."

Junior post player Juliet Conant kept up with the leaders' energy and immediately contributed with three third-quarter blocks, lifting the spirits of the East Nicolaus faithful and helping her team cut the lead to just six with one minute to go in the third quarter.

But Liberty Christian held off the Spartans with solid defense and timely shots, including a 3-pointer by Heidi Glenn with 30 seconds left in the third to essentially close the door.

Tupou led all scorers with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Watson finished with 10.

Conant pulled down nine rebounds and had five blocks, while her counterpart Taylor Trabold had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Liberty Christian. Glenn also brought down 11 rebounds and five steals.