Any guard concerned with her scoring average should think twice before stepping on the floor against Tyrone’s Emily Lloyd and Emily Ingle.
After three games, the senior guards whose end-to-end, in-your-face style of defense is more bothersome than any of the Seven Plagues of Egypt, have shut down any player they\’ve faced while making setting up a half-court offense a production of extreme effort.
They are two of the biggest reasons the Lady Eagles have held their opponents under 40 points per game thus far, and they were a major force in Tyrone\’s 59-29 win over Juniata Valley last night in Alexandria.
With Lloyd defending Valley\’s top scorer Casey Lane, and Ingle guarding Brittney Borst at one time and Chelsea Boyd at another, Tyrone was able to limit JV to seven total field goals, while making entry passes to the Lady Hornets imposing post players nearly impossible.
The net results were everything Tyrone coach Jim Swaney was looking for:
• Lane, who had scored 32 points in her first two games, finished with five.
• Borst managed only five, while Boyd went scoreless.
• Six-foot junior Maddy Gildea scored nine, but made only two field goals.
• Five-foot-10 senior Desiree Reed managed 10, but hit only four shots from the floor.
“Those two can really defend,” said Swaney of Lloyd and Ingle. “Lloyd\’s a nightmare to play against because she\’s not only quick, but she\’s long, and her hands are always in the passing lanes. Ingle just has a different heart than most players. She plays with a reckless abandon, and she\’s quick also. It gives us the luxury of really forcing teams high.”
With the victory, the Lady Eagles improved to 2-1 heading into Friday\’s Mountain Athletic Conference Section II opener against Bald Eagle Area at Tyrone.
It was, according to Swaney “as well as we could play for three quarters.” Tyrone forced 32 turnovers, placed three players in double figures, controlled the defensive glass against the much larger Lady Hornets, and topped their previous high scoring total by 11 points.
“Juniata Valley is a pretty good team,” Swaney said. “They might be the best team we\’ve played so far. It certainly helps us going into (Friday\’s game).”
Senior Emily McKenna was again at the forefront of the Lady Eagles\’ offensive attack, scoring a season-high 19 points, and she also helped do a number defensively on Valley\’s guards, taking turns on both Boyd and Emily Boone. Lloyd slashed to the basket against the Lady Hornet\’s 3-2 zone, and found her range from the perimeter to net 10 points.
Meanwhile, junior post Liz Tepsic – the player Valley least expected to impact the game – scored a career-high 12 points in extended action, playing in place of senior Tiffany Bradford, who was saddled with foul trouble five minutes into the first quarter.
“She\’s got a lot of ability,” said Swaney. “Sometimes that doesn\’t translate over, and it\’s all confidence with her. She just has to get comfortable, and when she started to play that way tonight, she was tough.”
Playing its first game on the road, Tyrone took command early and silenced a rowdy home crowd. McKenna hit in the lane and drilled a three-pointer as part of a 7-0 run in the first quarter that put the Lady Eagles ahead 7-2. A 7-0 run to end the period had Tyrone ahead 14-4.
Valley (1-2) turned the ball over 10 times against Tyrone\’s man pressure in the first quarter, but the Lady Hornets regrouped in the second to pull within 14-9 on a Lane foul shot at the 5:26 mark. From there, the Lady Eagles outscored JV 10-1 over the next four minutes, with Tepsic netting six points in the run, including a layup in traffic off a feed from McKenna that put Tyrone ahead 20-9. McKenna ended the period by hitting another three-point basket, boosting the Lady Eagles to a 27-11 lead at halftime.
The Lady Hornets finished the first half going without a field goal for the last 5:35, and then made just one basket in the third period. Tyrone pulled away with a 16-1 run to hike the score to 45-16.
Tyrone\’s held the Lady Hornets without a field goal for stretches of at least seven minutes on three separate occasions, including a span of nearly 11 minutes from the third and into the fourth quarter.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone\’s junior varsity team led the Lady Hornets 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter, but was outscored 21-5 down the stretch in a 54-40 loss.
Brooke Garbinsky led all scorers with 18 points. Megan Turiano added nine.
VARSITY
Tyrone 59 Juniata Valley 29
TYRONE – McKenna 7 2-2 19; Lloyd 5 0-0 10; Ingle 1 2-2 4; Hoover 2 2-2 6; Bradford 1 1-1 3; Tepsic 6 0-1 12; Bryan 0 0-0 0; Turiano 1 0-0 3; Corle 1 0-0 2; Long 0 0-2 0; Garbinsky 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 7-10 59.
JUNIATA VALLEY – Lane 1 3-6 5; Borst 2 1-2 5; Gildea 2 5-8 9; Reed 2 6-8 10; Feagley 0 0-0 0; Boone 0 0-0 0; Keller 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 7 15-24 29.
Score by quarter
TYRONE 14 13 18 14 – 59
JUNIATA VALLEY 4 7 5 13 – 29
Three-point goals: Tyrone 4 (McKenna 3, Turiano)
JUNIOR VARSITY
Juniata Valley 54 Tyrone 40
TYRONE – Christine 1 1-2 3; Turiano 4 0-0 9; Corle 1 0-0 2; Garbinsky 7 3-3 18; Faretta 2 0-0 4; Halter 1 0-0 2; Cox 1 0-2 2. TOTALS: 17 4-7 40.
JUNIATA VALLEY – Boone 2 0-2 4; Ewell 7 1-2 15; Feagley 6 1-3 14; Cresswell 2 1-2 6; Boyd 1 3-4 5; McAllister 4 2-2 10. TOTALS: 22 8-15 54.
Score by quarter
TYRONE 8 14 13 5 – 40
JUNIATA VALLEY 12 9 12 21 – 54
Three-point goals: Tyrone 2 (Turiano, Garbinsky),
Juniata Valley 1 (Feagley)
