Veteran Tyrone coach Jim Swaney certainly knows his team\’s strengths, and as early as the Lady Eagles\’ September shooting clinics he understood that the foundation of this year\’s team would be its defense.
That was when he calculated the magic number that could be the difference between Tyrone winning 19 games or winning nine – 54. If somehow the Lady Eagles could rally behind proven scorer Emily McKenna and chip in enough to reach 54 each game, not many teams could hang with them well enough defensively to even stay in the gym with them.
Through two games, Swaney\’s feelings on his team\’s penchant for playing defense have been proven absolutely correct, but the Lady Eagles are yet to even crack the 50-point barrier. Offense didn\’t matter much last Friday in a 48-40 win over Bellwood-Antis, but it was the deciding factor last night when Tyrone lost at home to Central Mountain 46-43.
It was a game Tyrone led by seven points in the third quarter, needing only another basket or two to put on ice a Lady Wildcat team that entered the game 0-2.
“We\’ve got to find a way to get more offense. That\’s the bottom line,” Swaney said. “We\’re athletic, we get up and down the floor, we\’re tenacious on the defensive end, but we\’ve got to find a way to put the ball in the basket.”
For most of the first half, the offensive contribution of McKenna was enough to keep Tyrone close. She scored 14 of her game-high 18 in the first two periods, including nine in the second quarter, when the Lady Eagles battled back from a 21-16 deficit to go ahead 26-24 at halftime.
But the senior point guard scored only four points in the second half and went scoreless in the fourth quarter for the second consecutive game, prompting Swaney to consider the workload she\’s carried in the first two games, playing all 64 minutes.
“It\’s probably something we need to look at,” he said. “Right now, we struggle on offense a little bit, so I\’m hesitant to take her out. But we probably have to find some ways to get her a blow.”
All that aside, the game was as competitive as a fan could hope, considering the season is less than a week old. The lead changed hands seven different times and came down to a final three-point shot by McKenna with two seconds left that came up just short.
Tyrone trailed 43-39 with just over two minutes to play when the Lady Eagles went to their 1-3-1 half-court trap. The decision worked, first when Emily Lloyd grabbed a steal and went end-to-end for a basket that cut the lead to 43-41.
Another steal by Liz Tepsic gave Tyrone possession and set up a Tepsic to score inside with 1:52 left to tie the game.
But Arlene Bowes answered 17 seconds later for the Lady \’Cats when she spotted up on the right wing and drilled a 17-foot jump shot to give Central Mountain the lead back with 1:37 to play.
The Lady Eagles had four more shot opportunities to tie the game, but went 0-for-4 from the floor in the last minute.
“It was a great game,” said Swaney. “It\’s like I said when (Bowes) hit that shot with a minute thirty to go. I leaned over to (assistant) Beth (Cannistraci) and said ‘That\’s a big shot.’ Give her credit. That was pressure packed and she really stepped up and stroked it.”
Part of Central Mountain\’s success came as a result of its size. Playing two 6-footers and another player at 5-foot-10, the Lady \’Cats dominated inside scoring early, netting 10 of their 11 first quarter points in the paint.
When the Lady Eagles adjusted, Central Mountain was patient enough with its flex offense to work for the best available shot on most half-court opportunities.
Even then, Tyrone had its chances, and threatened to blow the game open in the third quarter with a mini-run that had the Lady Eagles up 35-28 with 3:36 left. The Lady \’Cats regained the lead (39-37) before the end of the period on back-to-back three pointers by Meghan Gill, but Tiffany Bradford tied it for Tyrone on her first shot of the fourth quarter.
Bradford finished the game with eight points and 11 rebounds, while Tepsic and Marissa Hoover each chipped in six.
“They\’re down a little right now,” Swaney said of his team. “Our league is so tough, you hate to lose games you think you should win. But we\’ll rebound from it.”
The Lady Eagle will have their first chance to bounce back Thursday on the road at Juniata Valley.
HOOP NOTES: Senior Emily Lloyd, guarding Central Mountain guard Mallory Moore – who came into the game averaging 16 points per game – limited the 5-9 sophomore to three points. Lloyd also grabbed seven rebounds … Tyrone had three separate stretches where it did not score a point for more than three minutes … Central Mountain turned the ball over 21 times, giving Tyrone 40 forced turnovers in its first two games.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone trailed the junior varsity game 23-15 at halftime, but stormed back to tie the game 32-32 midway through the fourth quarter on a pair of foul shots by Brooke Garbinsky.
From there, the Lady \’Cats outscored Tyrone 11-3 down the stretch in a 43-35 victory.
Kassie Faretta led the Lady Eagles with eight points, while Garbinsky scored seven.
VARSITY
Central Mountain 46 Tyrone 43
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN – Stevenson 2 1-2 6; Szucs 0 0-0 0; Bowes 3 0-0 6; Welfing 2 4-6 8; Lawless 2 2-2 6; Moore 1 1-2 3; M. Gill 3 0-0 8; Williams 1 1-4 3; Walsh 3 0-0 6. TOTALS: 17 9-16 46
TYRONE – McKenna 4 9-10 18; Lloyd 1 1-2 3; Ingle 0 0-0 0; Hoover 3 0-0 6; Bradford 3 1-2 8; Bryan 1 0-0 2; Tepsic 2 2-2 6. TOTALS: 14 13-16 43
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 11 12 15 7 – 46
TYRONE 10 16 11 6 – 43
Three-point goals: Central Mountain 2 (Gill 2)
Tyrone 2 (Bradford, McKenna)
JUNIOR VARSITY
Central Mountain 43 Tyrone 35
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN – Williams 5 0-0 11; M. Gill 1 0-0 2; S. Gill 0 2-2 2; White 4 4-7 13; Hawksworth 1 1-2 3; Cramner 2 0-0 4; Brandt 1 6-9 8. TOTALS: 14 13-20 43
TYRONE – Christine 2 0-0 5; Turiano 3 0-0 7; Corle 1 0-2 2; Garbinsky 2 3-4 7; Faretta 4 0-0 8; Halter 1 0-0 2; Cox 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 15 3-6 35
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 8 15 8 12 – 43
TYRONE 9 6 10 10 – 35
Three-point goals: Central Mountain 2 (Williams, White)
Tyrone 1 (Christine)
