Tyrone may have had the perfect game plan last night in its game against Bishop Guilfoyle at Pleasant Valley gymnasium.
The Lady Eagles’ 2-3 match-up zone was confusing the Lady Marauders, who found it difficult and feed the ball inside to leading scorer Mary Forr and nearly impossible to hit anything from the perimeter.
What’s more, Tyrone was rebounding as well it has all season, forcing turnovers and absolutely shooting the lights out – 8 of 10 from the floor in the first quarter and 11 of 18 in the first half.
All the Lady Eagles needed was two or three more players.
Tyrone (5-12) went most of the way rotating six players against the deeper, more experienced Lady Marauders, who withstood what may have been the Lady Eagles’ best half of basketball this season to win 59-42.
“We’ve been in a lot of games this season and lost down the stretch,” said Tyrone coach Luke Rhoades. “We were definitely gassed after playing most of the way with five or six people, but that’s no excuse. We’re deep into the season so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Despite the one-sided final, the game was in stark contrast to the one played in Tyrone in December. Then, Tyrone lost 61-19 in a contest much less competitive than even the final score suggested.
So Tyrone may have had the element of surprise on its side with its hot start last night. That meant that for Guilfoyle coach Mark Moschella, the challenge was getting his team under control before the game got away.
“I just told the team that they can’t panic,” said Moschella, who saw his team trail by as many as eight in the first half. “We still had to look to get good shots. But if we scored every time and couldn’t hold them defensively, it wouldn’t matter. We had to pick it up on defense.”
They did, and as they did, so went the second half for Tyrone. The Lady Eagles made just 3 of 13 third-quarter shots and went 0-for-7 in the fourth while turning the ball over 10 times.
Meanwhile, the Lady Marauders in the fourth went to their spread offense, and methodically broke down Tyrone’s defense once it was forced to math up in man-to-man. Guilfoyle made 4-of-7 shots in the fourth and 5-of-8 from the foul line, with five different players contributing points.
“They go eight or nine people deep,” said Rhoades. “I have a lot of respect for their program. To see them patiently run their motion offense like they did was incredible.”
Tyrone came out of clicking offensively. Kayla Corle nailed a three-pointer 15 seconds into the game to give the Lady Eagles a 3-0 lead, and Meg Turiano and Kassie Faretta made shots from deep also as Tyrone took a 19-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It was 22-14 in the second after Turiano made a lay up inside, and 25-17 following Faretta’s second three of the game at the 5:42 mark. The Lady Eagles led 28-24 at halftime.
Guilfoyle started to take control in the third quarter after Tyrone was forced to extend its bench. Faretta made her third trey at the 7:33 mark to make it 31-26, but four seconds later Turiano picked up her third foul and went to the bench.
With her out, the Lady Eagles’ zone was smaller and less effective. BG ran off 13 straight points with a run that was a who’s-who of Marauder basketball. Forr started it with a lay up inside, Ashley Helsel scored four straight, Dani Williams popped in four in a row and Courtney Carroll ended it with a three-pointer from the top of the key.
That made it 39-31, but Tyrone battled back and cut it to 46-40 at the end of the period.
But there was little the Lady Eagles could do in the fourth once their shooting went south. Each Tyrone possession that ended in a missed shot was answered by a BG series of seven, eight and nine passes followed by a lay up off penetration or a trip to the foul line.
“It’s really not a stall offense,” Moschella said of his team’s spread game. “It’s designed to get good shots. That showed our patience.”
The result was BG worked the clock and got different players involved in the offense and it showed in the scorebook. Forr led the Lady Marauders with 16, Carroll and 11, and Dani Williams and Ashley Helsel each had eight.
For Tyrone, Faretta led the way with a career-high 15 points on five three-point baskets. Corle netted 11 and Tepsic chipped in 10.
Bishop Guilfoyle 59 Tyrone 42
Tyrone – Tepsic 3 4-4 10, Emigh 1 0-0 2, Corle 3 4-6 11, Turiano 3 0-0 7, Faretta 4 0-0 12, Garbinsky 0 0-0 0, Harden 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14 8-10 42.
Bishop Guilfoyle – Foor 6 4-6 16, D. Williams 3 1-2 8, Conrad 2 0-0 4, Carroll 4 2-4 11, Helsel 2 4-4 8, Neugebauer 2 0-0 4, A. Williams 3 1-3 8, Keagy 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 22 12-19 59.
Tyrone 19 9 12 2 – 42
Bishop Guilfoyle 14 10 22 13 – 59
Three-point goals: Tyrone 6 (Faretta 4, Corle, Turiano).
Bishop Guilfoyle 3 D. Williams, A. Williams, Carroll).
