The Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks trailed the Onteora Eagles by one point with less than 3 minutes to go in Thursday’s non-league girls’ basketball game.

After a basket by Ava Lamb extended the lead to three points, a technical foul called against the Newburgh bench turned into a 5-point Onteora swing, and the Goldbacks fell, 57-52, at Onteora High School.

Onteora’s Maxine Sprague only hit one of the two awarded free throws after the technical foul was called, but the Eagles got possession after the second shot and Grace Young scored on a putback to give the Eagles a 54-48 lead with 1:56 to go.

The Goldbacks never recovered.

Young finished with a team-high 23 points, while T.T. Burden provided the majority of the Goldbacks’ offense with a game-high 43 points. Burden knocked down eight 3-point baskets.

The Goldbacks pulled to within four points with 46 points left in the game on a layup by Lindsay Dando, but they wouldn’t get any closer as Alexia Melendez hit the back end of two free throws to push the lead back to five points.

The Eagles took an early lead when Sprague broke a 9-9 tie with a 3-point basket and Young hit a layup and two foul shots to open a 16-9 lead. Burden stopped the bleeding with a 3-point basket to cut the lead to four points, and Young’s foul shot gave the Eagles a 17-12 lead after the first quarter.

The Goldbacks battled back in the second quarter and tied the game at 23-23 on a basket by Burden. A basket by Gia Kissel gave the Goldbacks a one-point lead and Newburgh took a 28-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Newburgh maintained the lead after the third quarter, and Burden hit two baskets to give the Goldbacks a 48-43 lead.

However, a 13-0 run, a sequence that included the fourth-quarter technical foul, put the Eagles ahead for good. The run also included Lamb’s basket with 2:38 remaining, which gave the Eagles a 48-49 lead over the Goldbacks.

The Goldbacks didn’t score again until Burden hit two free throws to get Newburgh back on the scoreboard with 1:05 remaining in the game.

Assistant coach Rachel Gamma coached the Goldbacks in the absence of head coach Arturo Santana.

The Goldbacks returned to action on Tuesday with a non-league home game against the Goshen Gladiators. They will resume Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I play on Thursday with a home game against the Middletown Middies.