Staff photo / Brian Yauger Liberty’s Tiana Weatherly splits Brookfield’s Cailey Wellman (1) and Katie Gibson (12) during Thursday night’s 53-46 loss. The Leopards suffered their first loss of the season.

BROOKFIELD — Just a few years ago, the junior classes of Liberty and Brookfield were battling it out for the now-Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference, Gray Tier title as eighth graders. Ever since then, a rivalry between the two programs has blossomed.

Thursday marked another exciting chapter in that rivalry.

The Leopards entered the contest undefeated with a record of 13-0, including a two-point win over Brookfield earlier this season. Despite their best efforts to claw back into the game, Liberty was unable to erase its early-game deficit and suffered its first loss of the season, 53-46.

“We just had to come out and play hard,” Brookfield coach Ken Forsythe said. “That’s what we’ve been preaching to them all week. Just outplay your opponent, win or lose. We’ve just got to learn how to play hard and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“They’re a great team. They were 13-0 for a reason. They’re well-coached. Coach (Deidre) Watson does a great job. You’ve got to prepare for her more than anybody else and it takes a while. They’re a great team.”

Brookfield stuck to that strategy early as they controlled the pace of the game from the opening tip. After a 10-7 first quarter in favor of the Warriors, Brookfield came out stronger in the second, holding the Leopards to five points and taking a 23-12 lead at the break.

With how quickly Liberty is able to fire off buckets however, every hole is an escapable one. The Leopards went on multiple runs in the second half and scored 34 points after halftime.

Both teams play a tough, “in your face” brand of defense, so fouls were bound to happen. While Liberty (13-1, 8-1) was inching its way back into the game, foul trouble was starting to brew on both ends of the court.

“We just talked about playing Liberty basketball,” Leopards coach Deidre Watson said. “Our offense was kind of stagnant, we were just kind of standing around. We weren’t aggressive, we weren’t attacking. That’s what we talked about for the second half was attacking. Getting your shots. They did a great job. We just unfortunately got into foul trouble.”

By the middle of the fourth quarter, both teams were down some of their top players due to fouling out. Sophia Hook, who finished with 13 points, was stuck on the bench for Brookfield and both Cianna Smith (game-high 18 points) and Demi Watson (nine points) were out for Liberty.

On Brookfield’s end, Hook is the primary ball handler. With her out, it’s onto the next player up, which was Audrey Reardon. Reardon had a team-high 14 points, hitting four shots from the line to help close out the game.

For both teams, this is a perfect building block game. Forsythe sees plenty to build off of. While they got the win, Forsythe doesn’t want his girls to let off the gas. Against a team like Liberty, no lead is ever safe.

“We’ve got some good guards that are able to handle the ball,” Forsythe said about holding onto their lead. “Their pressure is one of the best around here. You’ve got to take care of the ball and we did that a little bit in the second half. We did get a little bit lazy, but I’ll take it.”

While obviously never happy about a loss, Watson reminded the Leopards that it’s just one and there’s still plenty of season left. They just need to go into their next game against Bristol on Saturday even stronger.

“It’s one loss,” Watson told her team after the game. “We’re still in the running for the conference title. It’s a learning experience. Sometimes losses are good to learn from in order to succeed.

Brookfield (9-3, 4-2) hosts Newton Falls on Saturday at 1 p.m.