The Nansemond River High School girls’ basketball team came back from nine points down with 1:33 remaining to force overtime, but it ultimately gave visiting Hickory High School too many chances to score.

“Offensive rebounds was the game,” Lady Warriors head coach R. Calvin Mason said. “They rebounded the ball better than we did and that’s why they won.”

Nansemond River had the ball and a chance to tie with 6.3 seconds left to go in overtime, but they turned the ball over on a bad pass to seal a 68-66 loss.

“This is the third game of the week that we haven’t closed out,” Mason said. They lost in overtime on Monday and by four points on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the Lady Hawks’ were able to get a liberal amount of offensive rebounds.

Hickory had height, but Mason said, “We did a poor job of boxing out.”

He estimated rebounding gave the Lady Hawks multiple chances to score on about 50 percent of their possessions.

“We probably played about a minute and 40 seconds of inspired basketball,” Mason said, referring to the sensational rally that forced the extra period.

Sophomore forward Aneka Yelverton started the run with a three-pointer and ended it when she rebounded freshman guard Cassidy Simmons’ missed free throw and put it back to tie the game at 61.

Yelverton ended the game with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals and Simmons had 18 points, three assists and three steals. Freshman forward Najla Bibb, in her first game this season, contributed nine points and seven rebounds, while junior forward Annecia Woods had eight points.

“I don’t know if we truly understand competing right now for an entire game,” Mason said, but he is using the non-conference games as an opportunity to grow the players and see what the team has.

Nansemond River (1-4) began its conference schedule on Friday night at Lakeland High School (0-4).