What stands between the Tyrone Lady Eagles and four or five more wins is simple: nine points.
The Lady Eagles have lost twice this season by a single point, once by four, and once by three, meaning that if somewhere along the way they could have squeezed out just five more baskets in those tight games, the Tyrone basketball team of 2005 would be one of the best turn-around stories in program history.
But easy as it sounds, those baskets don’t come cheaply for Tyrone, and the statistics show that for every bucket the Lady Eagles earn, there are at least seven other shots that misfired.
That was the situation again last night at the Tyrone Area High School gymnasium where the Lady Eagles found themselves struggling for offensive answers in the middle of a dogfight with Hollidaysburg.
Through the first quarter-and-a-half, Tyrone withstood every Lady Tiger run, and with 4:11 to play in the second period led 22-21. It was then that the Lady Eagles were most in need of one of those baskets: a bank shot, a tip-in, something – anything – to keep them above water if for only the few minutes left before halftime.
But the shot never came, and the Lady Eagles, who lost to Hollidaysburg by 31 in December, went the rest of the first half without scoring a single point. The Lady Tigers led by six at halftime and found their scoring stroke in the second half on the way to a 57-40 Mountain Athletic Conference inter-sectional victory.
The loss was the Lady Eagles’ fifth in their last seven games, dropping them to 7-11 overall. Hollidaysburg improved to 11-5
“The biggest difference in the game was it was 25-22 (Hollidaysburg) for a long time,” said Tyrone coach Jim Swaney. “We missed four foul shots and a couple lay-ups and we could have had four or five points there at the end of the half, but we came away with zero. It all comes back to our offense.”
It’s an offense that made just 28 percent of its shots last night and failed to reach 40 points for the sixth time this season.
Hollidaysburg, on the contrary, had just the right mix of hot shooting and timely baskets to knit together enough four- and six-point runs to win going away. The Lady Tigers were at their best during an 18-6 run over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter when they made seven of eight shots and extended their lead to 45-28. Hollidaysburg ended the third hitting 8 of 12 from the floor, while turning the ball over only once.
“We settled down on offense a little, made some good plays and made a run,” said Hollidaysburg coach Jeff Appleman.
Margaret Zink started Hollidaysburg’s tear with baskets on back-to-back possessions at the start of the third. Six-foot freshman Amanda Ottaway continued it with seven of her game-high 14 points, including a conventional three-point play with 2:21 left that put the Lady Tigers ahead by 17.
“That’s what she can do,” Appleman said. “She can be brilliant, but sometimes the easy stuff gives her trouble. But she can be a very good player.”
Tyrone cut the lead to 45-34 with a 6-0 run in the last two minutes of the quarter, but Andrea Cooper ended the spurt with a three-pointer from the corner to make it 48-34 heading into the fourth quarter. There, the Lady Eagles went 1 for 10, and never made a basket from the field until Hilary McNelis scored on a baseline jumper with 1:41 left in the game.
“The hard thing is that we’re so close,” said Swaney. “We’re 7-11, and it could easily be the other way. It’s frustrating for the kids and for me because we know how hard they work, and anyone who comes to see them play knows how hard they work. But we just don’t score like we should, and it’s cost us games.”
The Lady Eagles were very close in the first half, when they brushed aside every Hollidaysburg run to stay close. Tyrone trailed 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, and tied the game three times in the first three minutes of the second before McNelis made it 22-21 on a three-pointer from the wing with just over four minutes until halftime.
But that was Tyrone’s last field goal until the 5:12 mark of the third quarter, a period of more than eight game minutes that saw the Lady Tigers score 10 straight points.
HOOP NOTES: Ashley Roth scored a season-high 10 for Tyrone, including eight points in the third quarter … Marissa Hoover had six points, all in the first half, before foul trouble kept her sidelined most of the second half … Cooper added 11 for Hollidaysburg … McNelis also had eight rebounds … the Lady Eagles play at Bishop Guilfoyle Wednesday.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone trailed Hollidaysburg by just two (9-7) after the first quarter, but was outscored 45-19 the rest of the way, including a 13-1 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Lindsey Christine led Tyrone with eight, while Kayla Corle chipped in seven.
VARSITY
Hollidaysburg 57 Tyrone 40
HOLLIDAYSBURG – Hollern 3 3-5 9; Zerbee 3 1-3 8; Cooper 5 0-0 11; Smithy 2 0-0 5; Zink 3 0-2 6; Ottaway 5 4-5 14; McConnell 0 0-0 0; Longo 0 2-2 2; Matko 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 21 12-19 57
TYRONE – McKenna 1 0-0 3; Ingle 0 0-0 0; McNelis 4 1-2 10; Hoover 2 2-6 6; Bryan 2 0-0 4; Lloyd 0 3-6 3; Roth 4 2-2 10; Bradford 0 4-4 4; Tepsic 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 12-20 40
Score by Quarters
HOLLIDAYSBURG 13 14 21 9 – 57
TYRONE 12 10 12 6 – 40
Three point goals: Tyrone 2 (McKenna 1, McNelis 1)
Hollidaysburg 2 (Cooper 1, Smith 1)
JUNIOR VARSITY
Hollidaysburg 56 Tyrone 26
HOLLIDAYSBURG – Gildea 3 0-1 7; Ott 3 1-2 7; McConnell 0 0-0 0; Longo 6 0-3 14; Destefano 2 0-0 4; Banks 1 2-2 4; Begley 0 0-0 0; Dosh 0 0-2 0; Matko 8 4-8 20. TOTALS: 23 7-16 56
TYRONE – Tepsic 0 0-0 0; Turiano 1 0-0 2; Garbinsky 1 1-2 4; Long 0 0-0 0; Christine 4 0-0 8; Russell 0 0-0 0; Walker 0 0-0 0; Corle 3 0-0 7; Bartlebaugh 0 0-0 0; Bryan 2 0-0 5. TOTALS: 11 1-2 26
Score by Quarter
HOLLIDAYSBURG 9 12 22 13 – 56
TYRONE 7 4 14 1 – 26
Three point goals: Tyrone 3 (Garbinsky 1, Corle 1, Bryan 1) Hollidaysburg 3 (Gildea 1, Longo 2)
