The Fox Chapel girls basketball team doesn’t have much size in its lineup this season. To win games, the Foxes must rebound aggressively.

Fox Chapel annoyed North Hills during its season opener Dec. 2, though the Foxes ultimately fell short in a 46-43 defeat.

“We try to out-pursue people,” Fox Chapel coach Marty Matvey said. “I think that that shows a lot of grit and resilience. That’s always been the thing we preach within this program is to be resilient. I thought if they are going to sit in the zone, we’re going to pursue the basketball and I thought we did that.”

The Foxes’ offensive rebounding was vital to building a 17-16 lead at halftime. Fox Chapel has a young lineup and couldn’t find an offensive rhythm.

The Foxes shot 11% (1 of 9) from the 3-point line and were 17.9% (5 of 28) from the field in the first half. Lyla Jablon, who finished with a team-high 15 points, scored eight before halftime.

Nina Kulikowski grabbed 10 rebounds and finished with eight points for Fox Chapel.

What helped Fox Chapel was its defense threw North Hills out of its game as well. The Indians were 2 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half.

“Since we are small, when they put their best two players in those ball screens, we try to switch off and pressure the heck out of it,” Matvey said.

North Hills coach Jason Pirring said he was frustrated with how the Foxes were able to pick up offensive rebounds.

“Imagine what we’re working on in practice tomorrow as well,” Pirring said. “Offensive rebounds killed us tonight. That’s something that’s a struggle. We’re not a big team either. They aren’t a big team, but they outhustled us.”

North Hills was able to surge ahead in the second half thanks to the scoring of Zoe Devlin and Delaney Amato. The Indians led 35-27 going into the fourth quarter but couldn’t put away the Foxes.

A jumper from Jablon cut the deficit to 43-38 with 2:20 remaining. Emily McKee, who finished with 11 points, made a 3-pointer 15 seconds later to cut the deficit to two points. Bailey Sacco also added a layup late to cut the lead to 45-43.

McKee took a 3-pointer in the final five seconds that could have evened the game, but had her shot blocked.

Matvey believes the offense will improve as the team gets more games under their belts.

“There’s many shots that we should have taken,” Matvey said.