The Liberty County High School Lady Panthers ran their record to 3-0 with a 52-38 win Saturday over McIntosh County Academy, but the win may have been costly.

Liberty’s Diamone Johnson was injured in the first quarter while driving to the basket. Johnson, the offensive and defensive catalyst for LCHS, was coming off a 27-point performance against Beach on Friday.

She could be out indefinitely.

"Diamone was learning to play the point guard for us and controlling the offense and making an impact on defense," head coach Carolyn Kelly said. "She will be hard to replace in the line-up, but with some reorganization and coaching up some players we will be okay."

The loss of Johnson wasn’t the only downside for LCHS. Despite the 14-point win, the Lady Panthers struggled with turnovers and on the boards. Liberty also made only 10-of-34 free throws.

"We have got to learn to make free throws and make them count. We have to be able to shoot them when we are tired," Kelly said. "It is just a matter of concentration and we need to do a better job of that."

Kelly was pleased with her team’s effort to get the inside game working. She also pointed out the developing court leadership of senior Precious Williams, who along with Courtney Rhodes led Liberty in scoring with 11 points each.

Tiara Howard had nine points.

Liberty began the Joe Greene Tournament in Savannah this week. Tuesday night they were set to play against Northeast Macon. They are slated against county rival Bradwell Institute today.

"We plan to go up there and just have a chance to get better. I don’t know a lot about Northeast Macon but they have had a solid program in the past. We know that Bradwell is definitely going to bring us a tough game," Kelly said.

Liberty 52, MCA 38

Liberty 10|16|10|16-52

MCA 9| 10|6|13-38

Liberty: Courtney Rhodes 11, Al Williams 11, Tiara Howard 9, Breana Graham 6, Kimberly Payno 6, Catherine Scaggs 2, Alesia Heaggans 2.