The No. 5-seeded Lakeland High School girls’ basketball team fought well against No. 4 Phoebus High School on Monday before the Lady Phantoms pulled away in the final minutes.

The Lady Cavaliers’ season came to an end with a 57-47 defeat in the quarterfinals of the Ironclad Conference tournament at King’s Fork High School.

“We did as much as we could,” Lakeland head coach Brandey Blunt said of her team.

She had made an objective clear to her players: they needed to limit Phoebus to 10 points per quarter.

“Our defense was going to have to be the ticket for us,” she said.

Lakeland only trailed 21-20 at halftime and actually took a 32-30 lead entering the fourth, holding the Lady Phantoms to Blunt’s desired per-quarter average.

But then the Lady Cavs allowed eight field goals in the fourth quarter and eventually had to start fouling, allowing 27 points.

Blunt did not see her team’s shortcoming as defense in this contest, though.

“Sometimes we just can’t connect on the offensive end,” she said, citing six missed layups in the first half.

Lakeland finished a difficult season with an overall record of 4-18, 3-8 against conference competition.

Blunt reflected on the 2013-14 Lady Cavaliers.

“They’re a great group of girls,” she said. “I enjoyed coaching them. Definitely going to miss No. 3,” she said, referring to senior guard Kyiesha Barrett.

Barrett was consistently the team’s scoring leader and had 21 points on Monday. Sophomore guard DJannay Patterson added nine points and senior Nijel Smith had seven.