Coming into the game, the Lady Blue Devils were just an even 8-8 going against the District Six’s number one ranked Claysburg Lady Bulldogs, who stand strong at 17-1.
Claysburg was heavily favored going into the game, but Bellwood wasn’t about to roll over just yet, wanting to knock off the top team in the district. The Lady Blue Devils took a 22-17 advantage into the locker room at halftime, but the once-beaten Claysburg-Kimmel girls rallied in the second half for a 59-47 victory.
The game was underway and the Blue Devils were on a mission to take out the Bulldogs of Claysburg.
Both teams started out slow, as the score remained at 4-3 until for three minutes straight until Marissa Leslie stole a pass and took it coast-to-coast to give Claysburg the lead with 1:54 remaining in the first.
The score from the Bulldogs sparked the Lady Blue Devils as they scored four straight points from Allison Sinisi and Stephanie Hatch that put them ahead 8-5 with 42.2 seconds left. It seemed like they were ready for anything the Lady Bulldogs threw at them as the quarter ended 10-9 in favor of Bellwood.
“We just tried to mix things up,” coach Nick Lovrich said, “and try to confuse them a little bit. Lacey Claar is a great basketball player, she’s real aggressive and that helps her out. We hoped to contain her a little bit and we shut her out in the first quarter. We kept her under her average and that’s all we could ask for (21 p.p.g.).”
While holding Lacey Claar scoreless in the first quarter, Stephanie Hatch and Jenna Ralston took control on offense as they both led Bellwood with four a piece in the first quarter.
The second quarter belonged to Bellwood-Antis as they tore off a 9-3 run that put them ahead 20-13 with 2:47 to go in the half. They looked solid on offense and took control on the boards. It looked like a bright night for Bellwood as they held Lacey Claar to just one point in the first half.
As the half came to an end, Claysburg made a run that cut the lead to five at the break and bumped the crowd’s enthusiasm going into the second half.
“We came out strong,” Lovrich said. “That was what we’ve been talking about all week. We were fired up and ready to play this basketball game.”
The second half Bellwood looked to continue their pace on offense against the tough Bulldog team. After a Lauren Carter lay-up, Claysburg ran off nine straight points to take their first lead since the first quarter, 26-24. The crowd went crazy, forcing coach Nick Lovrich to call a timeout and regroup his team.
“The run at half-time brought their crowd back into the game,” Lovrich said. “The crowd wasn’t in the game because they were struggling. They couldn’t hit some shots, and Lacey Claar hit some key shots that put them back in the ball game.”
The lead changed hands five times between the two teams after Claysburg took their first lead of the half.
With just under a minute to go in the third, Bellwood-Antis and Claysburg exchanged the lead down to the final second as Marissa Leslie took a steal the length of the court for a lay-up with 10 seconds to go, giving them a 35-34 lead.
Bellwood did, however, answer back as they quickly inbounded the ball and hit three quick passes ahead to Hatch who launched a bomb well beyond the three point line that gave them the lead, 37-35 going into the final quarter.
The game was all up for grabs as Bellwood Antis looked like to make the upset complete in the fourth as they hit two quick shots from Carter and Hatch that put the Lady Devils ahead 41-38.
The game slowed down for Bellwood from here on out, as Jenna Ralston scored a bucket with 5:08 to go that would give them a three point lead, 43-40.
After a timeout, Claysburg came out swinging as they spent the next four minutes building a 15-0 sprout on the Lady Blue Devils led by Sasha Hileman who scored seven of their fifteen straight points. With the lead well in their hands, 55-43, Stephanie Hatch fouled out and the reality of a comeback just wasn’t going to happen.
It was all Claysburg in the fourth, outscoring the Lady Blue Devils 24-10 in the final quarter, proving their record still holds strong. Bellwood-Antis was that close to knocking the top team off, and coach Nick Lovrich spoke a few words about the tough loss.
“Once we got done to crunch time, we had a couple of turnovers and forced a couple of shots that we didn’t want to do. Defensively, we let a couple of girls open, but that’s part of the game. They played the game just as long as we did, so a couple of mistakes could let a team back in it.”
With the loss, Bellwood is now 8-9 and look to take this loss and focus on what needs done. They took on a tough 17-1 Claysburg team, and played very good Thursday night.
Stephanie Hatch played great, scoring 15 points along with seven blocked shots. Lauren Carter chipped in with 13 of her own.
Lacey Claar led the Lady Bulldogs as she recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. When it came down to it, she was the one to look at as she scored 16 of her 17 points in the second half when it mattered the most. Kayla Musselman also recorded a double-double as well scoring 14 and snatching down 11 boards of her own in their win at home. The Lady Bulldogs are now 18-1 and 5-0 in the Juniata Valley League, and look to continue with their success in the district.
Claysburg-Kimmel 59 Bellwood-Antis 47
Bellwood-Antis – Claar 1 0-0 2, Hatch 7 0-0 15, Ralston 3 0-0 6, Carter 6 1-2 13, Smith 1 0-2 2, Sinisi 4 1-2 9. TOTALS 22 2-7 47.
Claysburg – L. Claar 6 4-8 17, Leslie 5 2-2 13, Musselman 4 5-8 14, Hileman 2 5-6 9, Paris 0 1-2 1, Iachini 0 2-2 2, C. Claar 1 1-2 3
Score by Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 10 12 15 10 – 47
Claysburg-Kimmel 9 8 18 24 – 59
Three point goals: Bellwood-Antis-1 (Hatch)
Claysburg-Kimmel-3 (L. Claar, Leslie, Musselman)
Lady Bulldogs pressure late and win big against the Bellwood
in jayvee action
Late in the game, Bellwood antis just couldn’t handle the pressure as Claysburg turned up the heat the entire game. Up 13-7 at half, they came out in a 2-1-2 full court press that confused and dismantled this young Bellwood squad.
Bellwood’s Chelsea Young and Jessica Parson both scored six points that led the Lady Devils in their loss against Claysburg.
Claysburg’s Harshberger scored 13 as they beat Bellwood 29-19.
