WENDELL — Outmanned and down by 16 points in the second half, the Corinth Holders girls basketball team pulled within four points in the final minute before losing to Warren County by a 38-34 score on Friday night.

The Pirates (4-7, 1-3 Northern Carolina 2A Conference) were down to seven-players after injuries to three players. Nonetheless, they had enough left in the second half to erase most of a 30-16 deficit.

“I feel good about the way we closed,” Corinth Holders coach Brandy Smith said. “I just wish we would open [better].

“It is one of those things where it is almost a recurring act for us – not starting out with the intensity we need. We see that we are down and then we fight. I wish we could have that fight mentality at the beginning of the game is 0-0, not when we are down 10 or 20 points. It’s a mind thing.”

The Pirates were actually down to six players when two of Smith’s varsity players suffered concussions and one player was bothered by a recurring hip condition. The Pirates coach called up a player from the junior varsity to get the numbers of suited-up players to seven.

Against Warrenton (3-6, 2-1), the Pirates clawed back from a 14-point deficit. Trailing 30-16 with 2:55 left in the third quarter, Corinth Holders went on an 18-8 run to cut the deficit to 38-34 with 48.9 seconds left.

After a Warrenton turnover, the Pirates missed a 3-point attempt with 20 seconds left that would have made it a one-point game. Then they missed a pair of free throws with 19.1 seconds left and the Eagles were able to hang on.

“We missed a lot of layups,” Warrenton coach Shannon Jones said. “Overall, we played pretty well.”

Corinth Holders couldn’t find the basket in the first quarter, scoring just four points, and was behind 22-13 at halftime.

Dominique Solomon, a 5-foot-11 senior post player, led Warrenton with 16 points and Alexis French added 10.

Corinth Holders got 10 points from Maddy Gladwell and eight from Holly Price, who scored all of her points in the second half.