HOWARD — The East Knox High School girls basketball teams kicked off the 2008-09 seasons on Saturday night against visiting Cardington. Unfortunately for both the varsity and junior varsity Bulldogs, the Pirates went home winners.

Cardington took the jayvee contest, 46-32, before holding off the East Knox varsity team, 48-44.

In the main event, the Bulldogs displayed a tenacious defense, which caused the Pirates some problems. Cardington’s biggest lead was eight in the fourth quarter, but that too quickly closed back up.

“Overall, for a loss, I don’t feel bad,” said East Knox coach Daryl Uhde. “I had on our board, ‘Play hard, play smart and play together.’ Those were our goals, and I think we accomplished all three of those. To me, we were successful. Overall, this is one of those few times I can say I don’t feel bad. I really think we, played, effort-wise, as hard as we could play.”

Neither team could get much offense going in the first quarter. East Knox scored first off a putback by Brittany Dawson, but that only started a slow progression. A layup by Megan Morris off a Dawson assist tied the game up at 7 for the Bulldogs with 1:23 to go. Cardington went ahead less than 30 seconds later after freshman Kiarra Sedlacek drilled her second 3-pointer of the quarter.

Sierra Mazzaro gave the Bulldogs the lead in the first minute and a half of the second quarter with a pair of buckets. That, however, was short lived as Sedlacek continued to carry the Pirates. Back-to-back buckets made it a four-point game, 15-11, with 5:53 to play.

East Knox outscored Cardington, 6-4, over the next three-plus minutes and a three-point play by Lynn Tullos put it ahead, 20-19, with 1:34 to go before halftime. That didn’t last, though. Sedlacek outscored the Bulldogs, 5-3, in the final minutes, including another 3 with 9 seconds left, and gave Cardington a 24-23 lead at halftime.

The Bulldogs played well in the first half, but two things were evident — they needed to figure out a way to stop Sedlacek in the second half, and they had to find more offense.

Unfortunately for East Knox, neither of those two things happened in the third quarter. Sedlacek scored six of the Pirates’ eight points in the quarter, and the Bulldogs scored just one bucket from the field — a 3-pointer by Mazzaro. Free throws by Emily and Megan Morris pulled East Knox back within two heading into the final period.

Tullos scored on a three-point play to open the fourth quarter for East Knox and give her team the 33-32 lead, but Cardington stormed right back. The Pirates went on a 10-2 run without the help of Sedlacek, who was guarded heavily by Megan Morris, and took a 42-35 lead.

“We put Megan and Brittany on her and they are our two quickest defenders,” said Uhde of how his team slowed Sedlacek. “Usually we play strongside and helpside, and I told them not to help as much. I told them not to leave her as much as we normally would. We didn’t do a lot different.”

With stepped up pressure on defense, the Bulldogs slowly pulled the lead back over the final three minutes. East Knox outscored Cardington, 9-4, to make it a three-point game with 33 seconds left. Mazzaro’s 3 off an assist from Megan Morris capped the comeback, which was halted on the Pirates’ next possession.

“I thought our pressure hurt them,” Uhde said of the second half. “Our fullcourt, man-to-man really made them scramble a little bit. The problem is we don’t have a lot of players. We have some young players that didn’t get in and I had hoped to.”

Morris fouled out the next time down the court, taking away two of the Bulldogs’ starters. Tullos had fouled out just 20 seconds earlier. Cardington missed both of the ensuing free throws, but East Knox couldn’t convert at the other end. The Pirates score one more point off a free throw to cement the 48-44 victory.

“As a coach, I was impressed by us,” said Uhde. “I was impressed by the way we played together and the way we fought. I can’t fault anything we did. Can we shoot better? Yes, but I don’t think we can play much harder. I think we gave our maximum effort tonight. A couple of our problems are correctable, and we’ll work on those.”

Mazzaro scored 13 points to lead the Bulldogs, while Megan Morris and Dawson each added eight points and five rebounds. Morris also had five steals and five assists, and Dawson added three steals and two assists. Tullos added seven points, and Emily Morris and Melissa Tindall each scored four points.

Sedlacek went 8-of-10 from the field to finish with 23 points, leading Cardington. Hillary Gliem added eight points, and Tiffany Rummer finished with six points and eight rebounds.

In reserve action, Cardington got 12 points apiece from Cori Fraizer and Megan Long to win, 46-32. Jill Regal scored 12 to lead East Knox. Hayley Gray added nine points, and Josie Burwell had six points.

The Bulldogs are off until Thursday when they open Mid-Buckeye Conference play. They host Loudonville at 6 p.m., and then travel to Utica on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We will see probably two of the top teams in the league,” said Uhde. “If we can keep this effort, I think we can compete, and that’s all we are asking for. If we shoot a little bit better, maybe make a couple of more 3s, I think we will be OK.”