The Bellwood-Antis girls basketball team traveled to Williamsburg on Monday night, hoping to become a player in the Juniata Valley League second cycle. It didn’t happen. The Lady Pirates, who have been hot and cold during the current season, were the aggressor from the beginning running their full court press for nearly the entire game, even late in the fourth quarter with a 20-point advantage.
For much of the game, Williamsburg simply outhustled the B-A girls to the ball, proving that the earlier 50-41 victory at Bellwood was no fluke. Although the two schools were tied with a 4-4 JVL mark coming in, the two teams seem to be going in opposite directions with district playoffs beginning next week. With the loss, Bellwood-Antis drops to 9-14, with losses in five of their last six games, while the Lady Pirates are now 14-8.
Williamsburg broke out to a 4-0 start, but a pair of buckets by senior swing player Steph Hatch narrowed the score to 5-4 with 4:55 to play in the opening quarter. Williamsburg outscored the Lady Blue Devils 10-4 for the rest of the first period however to lead 15-8 after the first eight minutes. Hatch hit one of two free throws and banked in a long three-pointer from just inside the midcourt line to score all of the B-A girls first-quarter points.
Steph also opened the scoring in the second stanza with a conventional three-point play, hitting a basket and adding the free throw when fouled on the play. Williamsburg countered with a trey from Brooke Zimmerman, her only score of the game. Jamie Smith got into the scoring column with a pair of foul shots and Hatch pumped in another basket, but Williamsburg scored six of the final nine points to take a 24-16 lead into the locker room at halftime. Lauren Carter hit one of two foul shots to close out the first half.
Hatch opened the third quarter with a basket to get the Lady Blue Devils to within six at 24-18, but Williamsburg went on a 10-0 run featuring a paid of baskets by Amber Lee and two more by Morgan Tate. Hatch added her final bucket of the game to temporarily stop the Lady Pirates momentum, and later added two more from the foul line for the only points Bellwood-Antis could muster in the fourth quarter, when Williamsburg outscored the B-A girls 16-2 to run away and hide.
“Williamsburg got a lot of loose balls,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich. “Some of our kids aren’t feeling very well and I think that had something to do with it. But that’s one of those things you just have to get over. Williamsburg made a lot of plays and we didn’t.”
Hatch scored 16 points of the Blue Devils’ total of 22 and pulled down five rebounds and blocked three shots. Lauren Carter, a bit under the weather, was held to four points, but pulled down nine boards.
Morgan Tate led the Williamsburg girls with 11 points after being held to just three points in the first half. Kayla Harker and Kara Yeager added nine points each and Danielle Peck hit for eight points in mopup action in the final minutes.
“That’s something that just can’t happen,” said coach Lovrich in regard to the fact that Bellwood-Antis only scored six points in the second half. “We have to be able to put the ball in the basket.”
Bellwood-Antis will travel to Wingate to play Bald Eagle Area in their final regular season game on Thursday. The junior varsity contest will begin at 6 p.m., with the varsity getting underway at 7:30.
Williamsburg downed the Bellwood-Antis junior varsity in the preliminary game 44-7.
Shalee Hunted led the B-A girls with three points and Chelsea Young and Kerstin Myers added two points each.
Brooke Zimmerman had 11 points for Williamsburg and Heather Rhule added 10.
Williamsburg 53 Bellwood-Antis 22
Bellwood-Antis – Claar 0 0-0 0, Hatch 6 3-4 16, Ralston 0 0-0 0, Carter 1 2-2 4, Smith 0 2-2 2, Webb 0 0-0 0, Sinisi 0 0-0 0, Hunter 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 7 7-8 22.
Williamsburg – Tate 5 1-4 11, Severa 2 0-0 5
Harker 4 1-3 9, Lee 2 0-0 4, Bookhammer 0 0-0 0, Yeager 3 1-2 9, Zeller 0 0-0 0, A, Speacht 0 0-0 0, Rhule 2 0-0 4, Zimmerman 1 0-0 3, Wyland 0 0-0 0, Peck 3 0-0 8, L. Speacht 0 0-0 0, Cordova 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 22 3-9 53.
Score by Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 8 8 4 2 – 22.
Williamsburg 15 9 13 16 – 53.
Three point goals: Bellwood-Antis 1 (Hatch 1).
Williamsburg 6 (Yeager 2, Peck 2 Severa 1, Zimmerman 1).
