TEXARKANA, Texas - The Liberty-Eylau Lady Leopards met all of their expectations heading into Thanksgiving.
The Lady Leopards defeated Atlanta in a non-district contest on the hardwood Tuesday at the Rader Dome, 83-53.
"We're trying to a few different defensive sets before we began district," Liberty-Eylau head coach Aquanetta Watson said. "That's one of the reasons we tried to slow things down, so we could get our defense where they needed to be.
"These games count and they also get our bodies conditioned for the season. We want to be ready when district begins."
Briana Block led the Leopards with 24 points and six rebounds, while teammate Kayla Crabtree added 21 points.
L-E (4-2) kept their foot on the gas to begin the second half, holding the Lady Rabbs to 10 points in the third quarter.
The Leopards only gave up one turnover in the third period, while forcing six Atlanta blunders.
Kymberly Sheppard led the Lady Rabbs with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Victoria Clayton ended the game with five points for the Lady Rabbs and teammate Jennifer Easter added three points.
Liberty-Eylau's ability to make the extra pass for open shots
"We teach unselfishness," Watson said. "We want everyone to carry their equal load. We tell the girls if they pass the ball and play good defense, it will come back to them. We do a lot of drills in practice where we have the girls moving without ball, so their comfortable playing without the ball.
"It's just how we play."
L-E continued to slash to the basket on the Atlanta defense, going a 17-1 run until the 2:12 mark before halftime.
The Lady Rabbs cur their scoring drought when Destinee Webster was at the charity stripe, draining her first of two free throws.
Liberty-Eylau paced Atlanta, 51-13, when both teams headed to locker rooms.
Myah Hurd finished with nine points with six rebounds and teammate Ja'Niyah Sanders added 13 points with 10 rebounds.
"We want to keep fresh legs out there," Watson said. "We were able to substitute in waves and we're also trying to get some people in shape. I think if we're fresh, we can play tighter defense and run the offense the way I want it ran."
Atlanta had no answer for the Leopards' suffocating full-court press to open the game.
Liberty-Eylau held Atlanta scoreless until 3:30 left in the first period.
L-E forced 15 Lady Rabbs turnovers in the first quarter.
The Leopards held a 22-point edge over Atlanta at the end of the first, 33-11.
"We as a coaching staff have stayed on them about our rebounding," Watson said. "We've watched film of ourselves when we're not rebounding the ball. We've told the girls that we have the length to play with anyone but we must crash the boards, so we can get those extra plays. We've lost a game because of our backside rebounding, we were just standing there.
"We've been drilling into them everyday that we have to rebound to get extra shots. Rebound, rebound, rebound."
L-E is back in action on December 1, traveling to Mount Pleasant.