Prince Edward County High School’s varsity girls basketball team put forth a performance Saturday in the first half of its James River District tournament semifinal game that left fans optimistic about its chances for victory, but the No. 2 Lady Eagles faltered in the second half, ultimately losing 40-33 to visiting No. 3 Goochland High School.

Falling to 15-4 on the season with the Region 2A playoffs still to come, Prince Edward has struggled in its last three games as it has played without junior guard Ke’Mya Rux, who injured her knee in the third quarter of the Lady Eagles’ Jan. 31 home win against Randolph-Henry High School.

Since then, Prince Edward lost 48-38 to visiting Goochland on Feb. 1, then surrendered the district regular-season crown to host Buckingham County High School on Tuesday via a 47-37 defeat.

Lady Eagles Head Coach Carlton Redd pointed to the absence of Rux as the key factor in Saturday’s loss and the team’s three-game losing streak.

“(If) I had her, I would have won the last three games,” he said. “It’s that simple. It doesn’t get any harder than that. I don’t have anybody to replace her. I wish it was more complicated than that.”

He said that Rux would not be back in time to help the team in the regional playoffs, which begin for Prince Edward on Monday, Feb. 18, at home against an opponent to be determined.

On Saturday, the game was tied 10-10 after the first quarter, and the Lady Eagles led 20-17 at halftime.

“The first half, we played well enough to win,” Redd said. “And then that third quarter, I don’t know what happened to them.”

Prince Edward went scoreless in the third period, while the Lady Bulldogs put up 13 points, allowing them to take a 30-20 lead into the fourth.

“Despite it all, until we had that lapse at the end of the third quarter, we were playing with the kind of game we wanted to play,” Redd said. “It was a low-scoring game. That’s what we set out for. Our plays were working, we were running out plays — even without Rux. I just imagine if we had Rux.”

Lady Eagles senior point guard Da’Mya Harris struggled on the night.

“It’s because she knew everything was on her,” the coach said. “Everything was on her. Rux changes that. Rux takes a lot of pressure off her. Rux is not the high scorer or leading rebounder or leading stealer, but she does everything. … (Da’Mya’s) used to having Rux to play off of. Rux can break people down off the dribble, and Rux makes good passes. I keep calling her name. I don’t want to complicate it. It doesn’t get any deeper than that to me. If I have Rux, everything else goes away.”

Harris finished with 14 points, and senior center Madison Lehman added 10.