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LIBERTY HILL — The Burnet High School girls basketball team began District 25-3A play with a 49-31 loss to Liberty Hill on Jan. 6.

"We lost a very hard-fought, intense game," Burnet head coach Mike Cavender said. "The game was much closer throughout than the final score indicates."

The Lady Dawgs (11-11, 0-1) took an 11-10 lead after the first period, but Burnet only scored four points in the second period while the Lady Panthers dropped in 14 for a 24-15 halftime advantage.

"By the mid- to late third quarter, we had cut their lead to four and had several opportunities to close the gap further," Cavender said. "They pushed the lead back to eight, and that’s where it remained until late fourth quarter when we began to have to foul and gamble to close the gap."

Liberty Hill outscored Burnet 25-16 in the second half.

Neither team shot the ball well with Liberty Hill shooting 26 percent and Burnet countering with 22 percent.

The Lady Dawgs committed 29 turnovers to the Lady Panthers’ 16.

Senior guard Leah Cotton led the Lady Dawgs with 12 points followed by senior guard Kati Maldonado with nine, senior Casey Jo Stevens with five, junior post Bryanika Grady with three points and 16 rebounds, and freshman post Sarah Poe and freshman point guard Shelby Wilson with a point each.

"The kids played very hard and represented Burnet extremely well throughout the contest," Cavender said. "I was very proud of their effort at all times. If we could have knocked down a few more shots throughout the game, we would have been in great shape."

The Lady Dawgs will face the Llano Lady Jackets at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Llano Gym, 2509 Texas 16 South in Llano.