Pulaski Academy girls basketball Coach Rick Treadway had no trouble analyzing his team's 55-48 loss to Little Rock Christian on Thursday night at Alex Hugg Gymnasium in Little Rock.
With a nod to Arkansas men's basketball Coach Eric Musselman.
"Coach Musselman says there are three runs in a game," Treadway said. "You want to win two of them."
Which is exactly what Coach Ronald Rogers' Lady Warriors did -- winning the beginning and the end after getting dominated in between.
"You've got two good teams out there," Rogers said. "Two teams fighting it out."
Little Rock Christian (8-2) led 15-6 with 2:15 to play in the first quarter, fell behind 30-20 at the 5:21 mark of the third quarter, then outscored the Bruins 35-18 over the final 13:21 of the second half.
"It's a game of runs," Rogers said.
The first run consisted of six three-point baskets by the Lady Warriors, four by senior guard Katelyn Harris, who finished as the game's leading scorer with 21 points.
Pulaski Academy countered by outscoring Little Rock Christian 24-5 to build a 10-point lead early in the second half, led by Russellville transfer Jaidyn Koerdt, who scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half.
Senior guard Taylor Hernandez led Pulaski Academy with 18 points, 12 in the second half.
The difference in the second half, both coaches agreed, was the play of Little Rock Christian's inside players -- 5-11 Ashton Elley and 6-0 Ashley Hopper, who combined to score 18 of their 23 points in the second half.
"When they made that last run, that's when they started going to the big girl inside," Treadway said. "They went to their strength and our weakness, the size inside."
Little Rock Christian came into the season without last year's star player, Wynter Rogers, who is now playing collegiately at West Virginia.
The Warriors finished last season 23-2 with a loss to Marion on the opening day of the Class 5A state tournament.
Rogers said he knew this year's team would be OK.
"We've been blessed to have kids go to the next level," Rogers said, "but we take a lot of pride in team development."
That development was obvious Thursday, with seniors Harris, Sheridan Cross, Elley and Hopper leading the way.
"We feel pretty good about our team," Rogers said. "We just got to keep getting better."
Treadway also said he feels good about the Lady Bruins, who finished last season 23-5 with a loss to Farmington in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Pulaski Academy has taken on a schedule this season that has produced narrow losses to Jonesboro, Nettleton and Cabot, all teams from higher classifications.
"We are so close," Treadway said. "In all of our losses, we have been that close.
"You hear voices like, 'What's wrong with PA? They were supposed to be undefeated.'
"We are playing some really good teams. We're going to be battle-tested."
BOYS
LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN 49, PULASKI ACADEMY 32
Creed Williamson scored 15 points, and the Warriors (6-2) outscored the Bruins (1-4) 28-16 in the second half to pull away for a nonconference victory .
Riley McGuirk scored 12 points and Ben Fox added 10 points for Little Rock Christian.
Shannon McDaniel, a 6-4 junior, scored 10 points to lead Pulaski Academy, which trailed 21-16 at halftime.