Reason No. 543 why statistics in sports are many times more misleading than defense witnesses at the O. J. Simpson trial: last night the Dubois Lady Beavers outrebounded Tyrone 31-28, pulling down five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone.
The figure doesn\’t tell the entire story. One reason Tyrone lagged behind Dubois on the glass – an area where the Lady Eagles tend to perform quite well – was that on the defensive end, from the second quarter on, the Lady Eagles rarely had the opportunity to rebound the basketball. Dubois committed 22 turnovers in those three periods as part of its total of 27 in a 56-31 loss to the Lady Eagles last night in Tyrone.
In essence, shots for Dubois were at a premium.
The Lady Beavers\’ difficulty holding onto the basketball gave Tyrone plenty of opportunities to score, and the Lady Eagles took full advantage, firing up 62 shots, 22 of which went in. Senior point guard Emily McKenna led Tyrone with a game-high 19 points, while junior Liz Tepsic scored 13.
Stefani Bryan (9) and Tiffany Bradford (7) combined for 17 points off the bench for the Lady Eagles, who improved to 6-0 on the season when scoring 50 or more points.
The victory pushes Tyrone\’s overall record to 9-7 – 6-2 in its last eight games – and 5-2 against non-conference opponents. The Lady Beavers fell to 5-9.
The Lady Eagles kept Dubois off balance by employing several different defensive looks, including full-court zone pressure, but their biggest adjustment came between the first and second quarters when coach Jim Swaney gave guard Emily Lloyd the assignment of defending 5-foot-11 Kelsey Wilcox, who entered the game averaging 19.8 points per game.
Wilcox had spent most of the first quarter barreling her way to the basket for four field goals and nine points, allowing the Lady Beavers to stay in the game, tied 12-12. That changed when the assignment was switched to Lloyd, who severely hampered the senior post\’s ability to handle to ball away from the basket. Lloyd also prevented Wilcox from getting free on the interior, and she finished the second quarter with only a pair of foul shots as Tyrone took a 25-16 lead into the locker room.
“I wanted Lloyd on her right from the beginning, but I kept thinking maybe she\’s too big for her,” Swaney said. “So the first quarter we didn\’t have Lloyd on her and she scored 9 of her 16. From the second quarter on, with Lloyd defending her, she had a couple of buckets at most.”
In fact, with Lloyd on her, Wilcox managed just one field goal, coming at the start of the second half. She finished with a team-high 16, but after the first quarter Lloyd\’s defense made her a non-factor.
However, as the 27 turnovers attest, few other Lady Beavers had it any easier. McKenna, Emily Ingle and Bryan played the same kind of tenacious defense on their assignments, forcing lose balls, turnovers and quick shots, and by the 5:55 mark of the second period, the Lady Eagles had the tempo working in their favor.
An 8-2 run before halftime had Tyrone ahead by nine. The Lady Eagles went for the jugular in the third quarter, using its 1-2-1-1 full-court pressure to force Dubois into turnovers and hasty passes, ultimately resulting in nine takeaways.
Bradford scored six points to lead a 13-2 Lady Eagle run, scoring twice on breakouts off of turnovers. Meanwhile, Tyrone\’s defense held Dubois without a field goal for 5:35 as the Lady Eagles built their lead up to 42-22 by the end of the period.
“Tiffany Bradford really gave us a bolt of energy in the third quarter,” Swaney said. “She picked up the tempo when she came in the game, particularly defensively. She\’s a tireless worker.”
McKenna netted six points in the fourth quarter, including her team-leading 44th 3-pointer. Bryan and Kayla Corle also made treys, giving the Lady Eagles six for the game.
The Lady Eagles now travel to Lewistown on Friday. The Lady Panthers lead Section II of the MAC with an 8-0 record, and they have not lost to Tyrone since January 1994, a period of time spanning 29 games.
GAME NOTES: Dubois finished making 11 of 30 shots from the floor … the Lady Eagles earned the ire of Swaney in one area. They made only 5 of 16 foul shots, causing Swaney to say, “Our foul shooting was awful. Five-for-16 isn\’t going to beat anybody on most nights.” … Marissa Hoover led Tyrone on the boards with six rebounds, while McKenna and Tepsic had five each.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone had the mercy rule in effect by the third quarter, building a 45-4 lead on its way to a 50-13 victory over Dubois in the junior varsity game.
Kayla Corle led the Lady Eagles with 12 points, Sarah Halter scored 10, and all seven players who entered the game contributed baskets.
The Lady Eagles outscored the Lady Beavers 18-0 in the third quarter.
VARSITY
Tyrone 56 Dubois 31
DUBOIS – Wilcox 6 4-8 16; Senior 0 0-1 0; Snyder 1 0-0 2; Newcamp 1 0-0 2; Whitaker 2 0-0 4; Hicks 2 1-2 5; Barr 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 12 7-13 31
TYRONE – McKenna 7 1-1 19; Lloyd 1 1-2 3; Ingle 0 0-0 0; Hoover 1 0-4 2; Tepsic 5 3-4 13; Bryan 4 0-1 9; Bradford 3 1-4 7; Corle 1 0-0 3; Turiano 0 0-0 0; Long 0 0-0 0; Walker 0 0-0 0; Garbinsky 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 5-16 55
3-POINT GOALS: Tyrone 6 (McKenna 4, Bryan, Corle)
Score by Quarters
DUBOIS 12 4 6 9 – 31
TYRONE 12 13 17 14 – 56
JUNIOR VARSITY
DUBOIS – Wallock 1 1-2 3; Sayers 1 0-0 2; Whitaker 0 1-2 1; Bair 1 0-0 2; Foltz 1 0-0 3; Knouse 0 0-2 0; Shick 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 5 2-6 13
TYRONE – Christine 3 0-0 7; Turiano 1 2-2 4; Corle 4 1-2 12; Garbinsky 0 2-2 2; Halter 5 0-1 10; Cox 3 0-0 6; Bryan 1 0-0 2; Long 3 1-3 7. TOTALS: 20 6-10 50
3-POINT GOALS: Tyrone 4 (Corle 3, Christine), Dubois 1 (Foltz)
DUBOIS 2 2 0 9 – 13
TYRONE 10 17 18 5 – 50
