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Plenty of protection Tyrone sophomore Marah Hawes (30) sets a pick for classmate Rachel Emigh (24), while B-A senior Lauren Lender (23) defends during Monday evening’s girls basketball game at Tyrone. The Lady Eagles started quickly, then kept building to knock off Bellwood-Antis 56-32. (The Daily Herald/Mary Michaels) |
Tyrone isn’t a team known for its quick starts.
In fact, in 10 losses this season, the Lady Eagles have been outscored by double digits in the first quarter four times.
They’re not really known for their individual scoring talent, either, but the Lady Eagles dispelled both of those perceptions, at least for one game, last night against Bellwood-Antis.
Tyrone (4-10) landed five players in double-figure scoring and parlayed a 17-6 first quarter advantage into 56-32 win over its archrival at the Tyrone Area High School gymnasium.
“Our goal was to get out and run early and to put the ball in the basket to try to atone for last Friday,” said Tyrone coach Luke Rhoades, alluding to the Lady Eagles’ 47-32 loss to Huntingdon, where they shot just nine times in the first half. “We wanted to shoot more shots. I thought we made good decisions of when to run and when not to run.”
For B-A coach Ali Stodart, Tyrone’s explosive start was something she’s seen too many times this season.
“The same thing has happened throughout the course of the year. Slow starts have hurt us all season,” Stodart said. “We can’t seem to find a way to start strong, and we end up spending the entire game fighting back. We need to work on coming out of the gate and starting better.”
Things couldn’t have started much better for the Lady Eagles, who found themselves up 8-0 by the 5:46 mark of the first quarter after Lindsey Christine hit the second of her two three-pointers. Sophomore Rachel Emigh scored six in the frame as Tyrone built an 11-point edge.
The Lady Devils (6-11) battled back in the second, cutting into the Tyrone lead with a 6-0 run that made it 20-14 with 2:17 until halftime after consecutive hoops by Liz Erickson, Lauren Lender and Sam Damiano. That’s when the Lady Eagles, which started the quarter shooting 1 for 8, heated up, finishing the half by hitting 3 of their last 4 attempts from the floor, including a three-pointer from Brooke Garbinsky that made it 27-14 at the break.
B-A finished the half shooting just 6-for-26 (23 percent), but it would get worse after halftime. The Lady Eagles opened the third quarter on a 17-1 run, holding the Lady Devils without a basket until just under a minute remained in the period, while forcing seven turnovers. Sophomore post Mara Hawes scored six points in the run, while Kayla Corle added five, including her second three-pointer.
Tyrone finished the third hitting its last four shots, and led by 29 (44-15) following a jumper from the corner by Suzanne Zimmerman. B-A couldn’t cut into the run until Ashley Lechner drained a three-pointer with 58 seconds left, and trailed 46-20 heading into the fourth.
“We knew they had some good shooters and if they got hot we could be in trouble,” Stodart said. “We were pressing a little bit when they went on that run, and that may have caused us to rush a little bit with some easy shots. We also made some ill-advised passes that they turned into points.”
Garbinsky started the fourth quarter by making another three-pointer, one of just two shots Tyrone would make in the final frame. Garbinsky was one of four Lady Eagles to score 10 points, joining Christine, Hawes and Emigh. Corle led Tyrone with a game-high 13, making 7 of 10 from the foul line.
“That’s the kind of production we need every night,” said Rhoades.
“We were very balanced tonight and every girl picked it up a little. We have trouble finding five girls who will play hard every single night, but tonight we did it.”
Victoria Lombardo, who scored five in the fourth quarter, and Alycia Hippo, led the Lady Blue Devils with eight points peach.
GAME NOTES: Tyrone finished with 9 turnovers, a season low … B-A turned the ball over 17 times … the Lady Eagles shot 20-for-50 from the floor (40 percent), including 7-for-13 in the third quarter … the Lady Devils shot 12-for-54 (22 percent) … Tyrone hosts Bald Eagle Area on Wednesday … B-A hosts Claysburg-Kimmel Thursday.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Lady Blue Devils cruised to a 39-18 victory in the junior varsity game, behind a game-high 13 points from Karissa Collier.
Marissa Lombardo and Amanda Grannas chipped in eight points apiece.
B-A jumped out to an 11-2 lead after the first quarter, and limited Tyrone to single-digit scoring in every period.
TYRONE 56 BELLWOOD-ANTIS 32
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Lombardo 3 2-4 8; Lechner 1 0-0 3; Lender 1 0-0 2; Erickson 3 1-2 7; Hippo 4 0-0 8; Grannas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 3-6 32.
TYRONE – Christine 4 0-0 10; Corle 2 7-10 13; Faretta 0 1-4 1; Garbinsky 4 0-2 10; Harden 1 0-0 2; Emigh 4 2-4 10; Hawes 4 2-3 10; Zimmerman. TOTALS: 20 12-23 56.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
BELLWOOD-ANTIS 6 8 6 12 – 32
TYRONE 17 10 19 10 – 56
THREE-POINT GOALS: Bellwood-Antis 1 (Lechner).
Tyrone 6 (Christine 2, Corle 2, Garbinsky 2).
