Mt. Hermon struggled offensively, but stayed in the game through three quarters before losing to Archbishop Hannan, 44-23, on the road Tuesday in District 8-2A play.

Nicole Riley scored 17 points for the Lady Jackets.

“It was a lack of scoring,” Mt. Hermon coach Danny Seals said. “We had one girl hot and nobody else could buy a basket.”

Three players scored two points for Mt. Hermon, including Jada Norman, Diamond Pouncey and Kailee Hughes.

Mt. Hermon led just once at 7-6 with 4:10 left in the first period, but the Lady Jackets hung tough.

Mt. Hermon trailed by just three after one, 12-9.

The Lady Hawks upped the lead to 18-11 at the 5:08 mark of the second period, but Mt. Hermon cut the advantage to 22-18 with 1:18 on the clock.

Hannan doubled its lead before halftime by putting up the half’s final four points on successful field-goal attempts by Mallory Kramer, who posted 12. It was 26-18 at halftime.

The game featured very few fouls. There were no fouls called in the first quarter and just one in the third. The first half featured just four team fouls.

The clubs combined for three free throws and missed all three. Hannan missed both of its attempts, and Mt. Hermon missed on its only try.

The first free-throw attempt came with 8.8 seconds left in the third quarter.

The second half was a struggle, mainly on the offensive end for Mt. Hermon. The Lady Jackets scored just five points in the second half.

Mt. Hermon did not score a second-half point until the 2:51 mark of third.

But the Lady Jackets continued to play solid defense, holding the Lady Hawks to just four points during that timeframe.

Hannan took a 30-18 advantage with 4:30 remaining. The game’s next points didn’t come for 1:39 when Riley pulled her team closer with a 3-pointer to make it 30-21.

Kennedy Martin, who had 18 points, was good for two at the 38-second mark.

Despite just a three-point period, Mt. Hermon was still in the game, and trailed, 32-21, after three.

Hannan began to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. The Lady Hawks defense continued to play tough and held the Lady Jackets without a point in the fourth quarter until Riley was good on a shot and was fouled with 44.3 seconds to go.

During the scoring drought, Hannan made a 12-0 run, which upped the lead to 44-21 before Riley’s tally.

The loss put Mt. Hermon at 5-9 overall and 1-1 in district.

Hannan moves to 14-7 overall and 2-1 in district.

Also for the Lady Hawks, Julia Fecke scored six points while Miranda Kramer had four.

Amieé Guillot and Reilly Roberts put up two each for Hannan.