The Nansemond River High School girls’ basketball team put itself in a position to win the KSA Holiday Tournament’s Lime Bracket on Thursday in Florida, but the Lady Warriors fell short, losing 41-29 to Olentangy Liberty High School of Ohio in the championship game.

Nansemond River coach R. Calvin Mason Sr. said the Lady Warriors produced “probably the worst shooting performance that we’ve had since I’ve been coaching the girls’ team.”

“We played tired, but we played tired because of a decision they made to not get rest the night before,” he said of his girls, noting they were in their rooms, but slept little before the 9 a.m. tip-off. “We put ourselves in our position.”

Giving respect to Olentangy Liberty, though, he said, “That takes nothing away from the fact that the other team — they played better than we played.”

Lady Warriors sophomore point guard Briana Autrey was the top scorer for her team with eight points, while senior guard/forward Aneka Yelverton had only four.

Mason said his team never shot the ball well during the tournament, but “defensively, we played as well as we have played all year.”

He noted Olentangy Liberty is a Top-20 team in Ohio and the team Nansemond River faced on Wednesday, Woodbridge High School, is a Top-20 team in its division in California.

Though he was disappointed by his players’ poor decision-making the night before the title game, Mason was pleased with how they represented themselves overall in Florida.

“The girls responded well to playing against good competition,” he said. “Overall, I thought that we had a really good tournament.”

The Lady Warriors defeated Woodbridge 51-34, led by Yelverton, who had 17 points and six rebounds. Autrey supplied 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals, and junior shooting guard Cassidy Simmons added 10 points and five assists.

Yelverton, who also had 20 points and five boards in NR’s win on Tuesday, made the all-tournament team.

Nansemond River visits Grassfield High School on Tuesday.