Bellwood-Antis basketball coach Nick Lovrich is a glass-half-full type of guy, so it was easy for him to see the bright side of his team\’s 48-42 loss in the season-opener Saturday at Tyrone Area High School.
Playing with only two letter-winners, and relying heavily at different points on a pair of freshmen, the Lady Blue Devils were truly outplayed for only three minutes against the senior-oriented, heavily experienced Lady Eagles.
But in the long scheme of things, that collective three-minute span – two minutes in the second quarter and one in the third – was as good as a set up punch and a knockout blow. Spearheaded by senior point guard Emily McKenna, Tyrone used a 12-0 run before the half and an 8-0 run after halftime to build 38-23 lead midway through the third quarter.
B-A battled back and trimmed the lead to six with under a minute to play, but by then, the damage had been done, and the Lady Eagles were able to come away with their second straight season-opening victory over the Lady Devils.
“It seemed like in the second quarter, it was a really close game, and then all of a sudden the lead went to 13,” said Lovrich. “The second half we played much better. We got over the first game jitters, and it was tough. Tyrone has a lot of big-time players. For a lot of them, it seems like they\’ve been starting forever.”
McKenna, in particular, has started for an awfully long time – four years to be exact – and against B-A, her senior leadership stood out. More than leading Tyrone in points with 17, and more than being at the center of the Lady Eagles\’ big offensive runs, McKenna was there to score big baskets when her team needed them most.
“She\’s our number one option when we\’re on offense,” said Tyrone coach Jim Swaney. “She\’s a threat anytime she touches the basketball.”
In the second quarter, after B-A fought to tie the game at 16 on a basket by Jamie Smith, McKenna answered just seven seconds later with a runner in the lane to put Tyrone back ahead 18-16.
The basket set the Lady Eagles off on a run that had them ahead 28-17 at halftime. Over the final 4:06 of the period, McKenna scored 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers.
“Emily McKenna did a great job. She was probably the biggest turning point in the game,” said Lovrich. “She made a couple of big shots in the second and third quarter, and that shows the kind of senior leadership you want out there.”
But if McKenna was everything Swaney expected, so were her teammates, who came through with the kind of contributions their coach envisioned prior to the start of the season. None but McKenna cracked double-digits, but most were somewhere in the 6 to 7-point range.
Seniors Tiffany Bradford and Emily Lloyd each scored seven, while junior Liz Tepsic netted seven points and six rebounds. Senior Marissa Hoover scored six points and pulled down another six boards.
Their numbers were critical, especially on the glass, where B-A held a serious size advantage with 6-foot senior Lauren Carter and 5-foot-10 freshman Liz Erickson.
The duo was effective, particularly in the second half when Carter scored 14 of her game-high 19 points. But in a game where the Lady Devils were forced to play from behind from the second quarter on, it became difficult for them to rally late with their methodical offense, predicated on feeding the ball inside – particularly when Lloyd and Emily Ingle were hounding the ball out front.
“Lloyd and Ingle are as good of on-the-ball defenders as you are going to see,” Swaney said. “They are always pushing teams\’ offenses as high as they can, and that\’s a real plus for us.”
B-A got the lead down to seven, 30-23, two minutes into the third quarter on a basket by Carter, but McKenna responded with a jumper eight seconds later to start another Tyrone rally that built the Lady Eagles\’ lead to 15. Carter scored eight more in the fourth quarter, and a steal and score by Smith with 35 seconds left cut Tyrone\’s lead to 48-40, but the Lady Blue Devils could get no closer.
HOOP NOTES: Smith scored 13 for B-A … the Lady Devils turned the ball over 19 times, including eight in the first quarter … Tyrone had 11 turnovers … Tyrone hosts Central Mountain tonight, while B-A opens Juniata Valley league play on the road at Penns Valley.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Behind a balanced scoring attack that saw three Lady Eagles reach double-figure scoring, Tyrone dominated the jayvee game with a 51-23 victory.
Lindsay Christine, Megan Turiano and Kayla Corle each scored 10 points to lead the Lady Eagles, while Kassie Faretta chipped in another eight.
Chelsea Young and Ashley Lechner scored five apiece to lead B-A.
Tyrone 48 Bellwood-Antis 42
VARSITY
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Webb 0 -0-0; Carter 9 1-3 19; Erickson 4 0-0 8; Smith 6 0-0 13; Ingram 0 0-0 0; Lechner 0 0-0 0; Hunter 0 0-0 0; Parson 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 20 1-3 42.
TYRONE – McKenna 7 1-2 17; Lloyd 2 3-6 7; Ingle 1 0-0 2; Hoover 3 0-0 6; Bradford 3 1-1 7; Bryan 1 0-0 2; Tepsic 3 1-3 7; Turiano 0 0-0 0; Walker 0 0-0 0; Long 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 6-13 48.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS 10 7 12 13 – 42
TYRONE 13 15 12 8 – 48
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 1 (Smith)
Tyrone 2 (McKenna 2)
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone 51 Bellwood-Antis 23
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Hunter 1 1-2 3; Young 2 0-0 5; Ingram 0 0-0 0; Lender 2 0-1 4; Lombardo 1 0-0 2; Shultz 0 0-0 0; Whiteman 0 0-0 0; Wilt 0 0-0 0; Lechner 2 0-0 5. TOTALS: 10 1-3 23.
TYRONE – Christine 4 1-2 10; Turiano 3 4-6 10; Corle 3 4-6 10; Garbinsky 2 0-0 6; Faretta 3 2-2 8; Halter 2 2-2 6; Cox 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 17 14-20 51
BELLWOOD-ANTIS 5 8 6 4 – 23
TYRONE 14 12 10 15 – 51
Three-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 2 (Lechner, Young)
Tyrone 3 (Garbinsky 2, Christine)
