BETHLEHEM — “There are no moral victories,” said Jim Thorpe coach Rob Kovac after his Olympians lost to Bethlehem Catholic, 47-38 in the District 11 Class 4A championship game. “We took our best shot against them, but at the end, we ran out of bullets.”

Jim Thorpe entered Saturday night’s title game at Freedom High School undefeated. But facing the two- time defending district champions, Thorpe was in the underdog role for one of the first times this season.

Despite that, the Olympians stood toe-to-toe with the Golden Hawks for a good part of the game.

After Jaleesa Lanier opened the scoring with a layup for the Hawks, a Natalia Richards’ free throw and Olivia Smelas scoop shot in the lane put JT up 3-2. Abigail Brown’s side jumper with 1:30 left in the first gave the Hawks a 10-6 edge, but Thorpe finished the quarter strong with Skyler Searfoss hitting a jump shot in the lane, and Richards basket with three seconds left gave Jim Thorpe a 12-11 edge after eight minutes.

Jim Thorpe and Bethlehem Catholic turned up the defensive pressure a notch in the second quarter. The Olympians were held without a field goal, and the Hawks managed only one basket by Briana Barnard for the full eight minutes. Both teams scored just five points.

“I think we were able to frustrate them a little with our zone defense,” said Kovac. “We didn’t rebound well, but we were still up one at the half.”

Both teams had balanced scoring, with each of the five starters contributing points.

With a minute gone by the third quarter, Jim Thorpe’s Leila Hurley nailed a three-pointer from the left baseline for the Olympians’ largest lead of the night at 20-16, but Brown’s layup cut the margin to two and Lanier’s free throws tied the score with 5:36 to go.

A beautiful spin move and shot off the glass resulted in a basket and a free throw by Searfoss to make it 23-20 JT and her full court driving layup at the half way mark of the quarter kept the lead at three points.

“I think at that point we started to wear down a bit,” said Kovac. “Their physicality and supreme athleticism started to take its toll and their depth was beginning to make a difference.”

Thorpe would hang tough though and be down 31-29 at the end of the third quarter. Hurley’s three would put JT down by one at 33-32 with six minutes to go in the fourth, but the Hawks dominated the boards from that point on. Kourtney Wilson was fouled and made both her shots from the charity stripe and a minute and a half later, she would score off a rebound for a 38-32 lead for Becahi.

“They also started to take the ball out of Skyler’s hands,” said Kovac, “and their size advantage gave us trouble with getting rebounds.”

The Hawks scored just one basket from the floor — a three-pointer by Brown — in the fourth quarter with the remainder of their 13 points in the period coming from the free throw line.

Despite the loss, Kovac was upbeat about his team’s effort and its chances in the state tournament.

“I’m so proud of our team,” said Kovac. “We coached as hard as we could and our kids played as hard as they could. I think we showed there are no limitations when we play the best teams in the biggest games.

“We’ll move forward to the states with a lot of confidence.”

TOP SCORERS ... Searfoss had 16 points and Hurley added 10 to lead the Olympians. Brown had 14 for Bethlehem Catholic.

STALL BALL … The Hawks held the ball on offense for nearly three minutes in the fourth quarter to give Thorpe less time to mount a comeback.

STATE DATE … The Olympians will play Lansdale Catholic on Saturday in a state tournament game at 5 p.m. at Martz Hall in Pottsville.

JIM THORPE

Richards 1-2-4-4, Scott 0-2-2-2, Snisky 0-0-0-0, Hurley 3-2-2-10, Searfoss 6-4-5-16, Smelas 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 13-10-13-38.

BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC

Rosario 1-3-4-5, Lanier 2-5-8-9, Walters 0-0-0-0, Barnard 3-0-2-6, Rodriguez 0-0-0-0, McNally 0-0-0-0, 1-8-8-10, Stanton 0-0-0-0, Donato 0-0-0-0, Scott 0-0-0-0, Brown 5-4-6-14, Perez 0-0-0-0, Zamb0 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-20-28-47.

Jim Thorpe 12 5 12 9 - 38

Becahi 11 5 15 16 - 47

Three-pointers: Jim Thorpe - Hurley 2; Bethlehem Cath. - Brown 1.