KRUM — Liberty Christian head coach Ken Burroughs and Krum head coach Lana Degelia both scheduled Tuesday’s season opener for the same reason.

They wanted to begin the year against a formidable opponent.

Both coaches, who plan on contending for the state title in their respective classes this season, got what they hoped for.

And in the end it was Krum who got the win as it held off a late Liberty run to top the Lady Warriors 48-43 at Bennie Enis Gym.

“The good part about this loss is Krum is good,” Burroughs said. “And that is what we wanted to see. We wanted to play against good competition to start the year to give us a measuring stick.”

Liberty (0-1), which ended last season with a loss in the TAPPS 4A state title game, had its chances to measure a little higher and chalk up the win.

The Lady Warriors cut a 16-point, second-half deficit to one point at 41-40 early in the fourth quarter to steal the momentum and put Krum (1-0) on its heels.

“[Losing the big lead] may have had to do with first-game jitters,” Degelia said. “But I knew we weren’t just going to blow them out. Liberty is too good of a team. I don’t think many people can hold a big lead against Liberty.”

Instead, Krum held on to the short lead by forcing six fourth-quarter turnovers and allowing only one field goal the final seven minutes of the game to clinch the win.

“I was proud that we hung in there,” Degelia said. “We made the plays when we needed to. We weren’t shooting the ball well and we knew that our defense was going to have to win this game.”

At one point in the final three minutes, Liberty turned the ball over on five of six possessions and it also missed its last five shots from the field.

“We had a chance, but we turned the ball over too much late and we didn’t rebound on defense,” Burroughs said. “We just kind of ran out of gas. Krum just had a little more gas than we did.”

The Lady Cats stepped on the pedal early by building a 19-7 lead after the first quarter and a 30-21 lead at halftime.

Leading the way was senior guard Kirsti Degelia, who scored 13 of her game-high 25 points in the first frame.

“No. 25 [Degelia] played pretty good,” Burroughs said. “It sure didn’t look like the first game of the season for her.”

In the opening frame, she sparked a 13-0 run with a long 3-pointer and ended the surge with three free throws.

But it was Krum’s early defensive pressure that also did the trick by not allowing the Lady Warriors to score a point for almost five minutes.

“We had a great start to the game,” Lana Degelia said. “Everyone contributed. That was what I was most pleased with tonight. We are playing great team ball right now.”

Liberty climbed back into the game in the third quarter with a 17-2 run keyed by the shooting touches of Summer Fife and Nicole Kornet. Fife finished with 16 points while Kornet chipped in 13 points.

The pair scored 12 of the Lady Warriors’ 17 points during the surge, but were held to just one point in the fourth quarter.

But a layup by Rachel Wallace sandwiched between two short jumpers by Kirsti Degelia gave Krum a 47-40 lead to stop the bleeding and start the celebrating.

“We made a nice run and I was pleased with that,” Bur-roughs said. “I came in here hoping we could play good for three quarters. We only played good for one and that won’t win you any ball games.”

Both coaches and teams have high expectations this season. Liberty is returning all but one starter from last year and Krum will start five seniors this season.

“We know we have to take it one step at a time,” Degelia said. “But we are hoping for a long playoff run. We just have to hope to improve every game.”

Krum 48, Liberty Christian 43

Liberty (0-1) — Summer Fife 16, Nicole Kornet 12, Madison Eschle 8, Barbara-Scott Kolb 4, Cameron Gannon 3.

Krum (1-0) — Kirsti Degelia 25, Rachel Wallace 7, Erin Dickson 5, Jenny Reneau 5, Emily Olsen 3, Katy Dodd 2, Jessica Perez 1.