Since the night Tyrone tipped its season with an eight-point win over Bellwood-Antis until last night’s game at Huntingdon, 59 days had passed.
Jim Swaney and the Lady Eagles spent 56 of them trying to put together consecutive wins – something they hadn’t done since December 6 when, three days after beating B-A, the Lady Eagles rolled Juniata Valley to open the season 2-0.
There were times in January when those three days seemed like three years ago for Tyrone, but following last night’s 59-33 drubbing of the Lady Bearcats, the Lady Eagles are now left with nine days to try to finish .500, and complete what could be one of the more compelling turnarounds in program history.
The victory came on the heels of last Friday’s emotional win over Indian Valley, and it allowed Tyrone to move to 9-12 (4-8 Mountain Athletic Conference Section II) with three games remaining against Bald Eagle Area, Philipsburg-Osceola and Williamsburg. With a sweep of those games, the Lady Eagles would finish 12-12 just a year removed from finishing 4-20 with virtually the same cast of players.
“Our goal is to finish .500,” said Swaney. “We’re just going to take it one game at a time. It was our goal before (last Friday’s) Indian Valley game and it’s our goal now.”
Certainly the split of 24 regular season games wasn’t what Swaney had in mind after Tyrone’s 62-51 win two months ago over JV – a team that now sits at 19-3 – but consider that after a hot start that also included a win over 15-4 Bishop McCort, Tyrone went 4-10 and saw its scoring average drop steadily most of the month of January.
That’s when you understand how important it has been for the Lady Eagles not only to win a couple games in a row, but to play well for the last four – a stretch that has seen more players contribute offensively while the team has grown in confidence.
“We know if we get more kids involved in our offense, we’ll be better and better,” said Swaney. “We understand that if we can score into the mid-50s, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.”
Last night, eight players made it into the scoring column, while three hit double figures for the first time since January 4. Senior Hilary McNelis, closing in on a second consecutive 400-point season, netted a game-high 25 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Junior Emily McKenna scored 10 points while pulling down five boards and dishing out eight assists, and sophomore Stefani Bryan added 10 points, including two three-pointers.
It was just the performance Swaney was hoping for to follow up the win over Valley. Tyrone never trailed and controlled the game from the opening tip, aided in part by Huntingdon’s inability to make shots in the paint in the first quarter. The Lady ‘Cats started the game 0-for-9 as the Lady Eagles built an 11-2 lead by the 2:40 mark on a McKenna three-pointer.
Tyrone’s eight-point lead to end the first quarter (14-6) grew in the second as McNelis got hot. She scored eight in the frame, including a pair of three-point baskets, as the Lady Eagles built and maintained a 10-point lead for most of the period. Huntingdon turned the ball over six times, and despite controlling its offensive rebounds was never able to convert its work inside into significant points, trailing 28-14 at halftime.
The Lady ‘Cats began the game by making a concerted effort to pound the ball inside to 5-11 post Olivia Hallahan, but she was held scoreless by a combination of Marissa Hoover, Ashley Roth and McNelis, forcing Huntingdon to look elsewhere for offense.
Leading scorer Jenna Sheffield was the next logical option, but, checked most of the night by Emily Lloyd, she never found her rhythm and finished with only six points.
“She’s such a great defender,” said Swaney of Lloyd. “She’s athletic and long and just tough to play against.”
Huntingdon switched from man defense to a 2-3 zone for the second half and the switch worked initially in slowing the Lady Eagles’ in their half-court offense. Tyrone missed nine straight shots at one point in the third quarter, but Huntingdon struggled just the same, and during that cold spell managed to cut only two points off the Lady Eagles’ lead by the 5:07 mark (32-22).
From there, Tyrone went on an 11-0 run to end the period and put the game away. Bryan started it by swishing a trey before making a lay-up in traffic, McNelis added a pair of jumpers, and Lloyd capped it with an athletic move around one defender and over another on the baseline. Tyrone led 43-22 after the third and never looked back.
HOOP NOTES: Bryan’s last game in double figures was the season-opener, when she scored 12 against B-A … Greta Gibboney led Huntingdon with eight points … Tyrone made 23 of 64 shots (36 percent) and turned the ball over only nine times … Huntingdon was 13 for 49 (26.5 percent) from the field, and turned the ball over 22 times … the Lady ‘Cats dipped to 5-17 and 2-10 … Hoover pulled down 10 rebounds … Tyrone hosts Bald Eagle Area Friday on Senior Night. BEA beat Tyrone 43-42 in Wingate on January 11.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone trailed 30-27 heading into the fourth quarter, but outscored Huntingdon 15-5 in the final frame to win 42-35 and avenge an earlier loss.
Elizabeth Tepsic led Tyrone with 11 points, while Meg Turiano, Brooke Garbinsky and Lindsay Christine each added six.
VARSITY
Tyrone 59 Huntingdon 33
TYRONE – McKenna 4 1-2 10; Ingle 1 1-2 3; Hoover 0 0-0 0; McNelis 10 3-4 25; Lloyd 1 0-2 2; Roth 2 1-1 5; Bryan 4 0-0 10; Bradford 0 2-2 2; Tepsic 1 0-0 2; Long 0 0-0 0; Christine 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 8-13 59.
HUNTINGDON – Hallahan 0 0-0 0; Sheffield 3 0-1 6; Kayla Thompson 2 2-3 6; Young 1 0-0 2; Gibboney 4 0-0 8; S. Hurley 1 0-0 2; K. Hurley 1 2-4 4; Quinn 0 1-2 1; Speck 1 0-2 2; Frederick 1 0-2 2. TOTALS: 14 5-14 33.
Score by Quarters
TYRONE 14 14 15 16 – 59
HUNTINGDON 6 10 6 11 – 33
THREE-POINT GOALS: Tyrone 5 (McNelis 2, Bryan 2, McKenna 1).
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone 42 Huntingdon 35
TYRONE – Bryan 1 0-0 3; Tepsic 3 5-6 11; Turiano 2 0-2 6; Garbinsky 0 6-8 6; Christine 2 2-2 6; Russell 1 0-0 3; Walker 0 0-0 0; Corle 1 1-2 3; Bartlebaugh 0 0-0 0; Long 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 11 16-22 42
HUNTINGDON – Speck 5 4-5 14; Hurley 2 0-0 4; Quinn 1 0-0 2; Hersh 4 1-4 9; Tomlinson 0 0-0 0; Frederick 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 5-9 35
Score by Quarters
TYRONE 7 12 8 15 – 42
HUNTINGDON 6 16 8 5 – 35
THREE-POINT GOALS: 4 (Turiano 2, Russell 1, Bryan 1).
