It seemed easy. Almost too easy.

Whatever Peoria Liberty’s girls did on the basketball court in the first half at Phoenix Greenway on Tuesday night (Dec. 4), things went their way.

They put the ball in the basket with regularity. When the Lions played defense, they rotated well and wherever a Greenway player went, a Liberty player was waiting, sometimes two.

A 10-point Liberty lead inched to 11 at the end of three quarters.

But in the fourth, whatever had been easy for Liberty was just the opposite. It was as if the two teams had exchanged uniforms.

Greenway stormed back to within two with 27 seconds to go on a 3-pointer by Bleta Kodra, but that’s the way it remained as Liberty held on for the 52-50 win in Division II play.

Liberty raised its record to 5-1, and Greenway fell to 4-2.

Guard Albani Hardy, who completed a four-point play to begin the game for Greenway, led all scorers with 18 points. Kodra scored 15 points, 10 in the fourth quarter.

Guard Tiffany Marino led Liberty with 17 points, and helped her team escape several second-half jams with her ball-handling skills. Bri Croteau scored 12 points.

Greenway appeared as if it might at least have a chance to tie it after Liberty missed the front end of a one-and-one situation at the foul line with 12.8 seconds left, but Liberty grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 6.9 seconds left to set up its final possession.