The Lady Patriots dropped the first-round matchup of the Abbeville Christmas tournament 58-22 to Westwood.

The Pike Liberal Arts team entered Friday having won their last two games rather convincingly, but they were unable to matchup with the top-ranked private school.

“I went into the game knowing it was going to be a struggle,” said Patriot head coach Robert Hawkins. “I am not going to make excuses. We got beat, but these girls work all year round. Everyone was well-oiled machine.”

Westwood entered the 2015-16 as back-to-back state champions.

“We played hard in the first half,” Hawkins said. “I think quite frankly our wind was let out of our balloon in the second half. It was hard for the girls to get up in the second half to play.”

Whether it was good shooting, defense or rebounding, according to Hawkins the Warriors had it all.

“It was all the above,” Hawkins said. “Quite frankly when they walked on the court it wasn’t like they were a physically imposing team. They pretty much looked like our girls. They just didn’t miss a shot. They just did everything right.”

Hawkins’ focus now is getting the team ready to play again.

“Part of you wants to talk them up, but sometimes you have to let it sit a while and pick it up the next day,” Hawkins said. “Hopefully we realize that we were out-manned and out-played.”

The Lady Patriots were led in scoring by Lauren Johnson who finished with 12 points. Senior Regine Parker finished the game with nine points.

The Patriots will try and rebound when they take on either Abbeville or Edgewood today at 10 a.m.