There may not be a Class AA team in Pennsylvania that can stick with the Bishop Guilfoyle Lady Marauders when they get on the kind of roll they were on in the third quarter of last’s night’s game against Tyrone.
Over the first 6:03 of the second half, Guilfoyle put on a show reminiscent of the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s, forcing turnovers with a stiff man-to-man defense and converting quickly and aggressively to its up-tempo transition game. The Lady Marauders ripped of the first 19 points of the period and never allowed a Lady Eagle field goal until the 1:32 mark.
By the time Maureen Nagle completed BG’s incredible run with a reverse layup on a baseline drive, the Lady Marauders were ahead 62-17, and well on their way to their fifth victory in as many starts.
Putting the Mercy Rule into effect with over three minutes to play in the third quarter, BG dominated the Lady Eagles 68-32 at the Tyrone Area High School gymnasium, improving to 2-0 in the Mountain Athletic Conference.
The third quarter run put an exclamation mark on a game between teams on two different planes. The Lady Eagles, starting three sophomores and relying almost exclusively on inexperienced underclassmen, were frustrated from the start by the multiple looks Guilfoyle’s smothering defense, and the Lady Marauders were well prepared to turn Tyrone miscues into baskets.
“Although we played a good first half, I really thought the first five or six minutes of the third quarter our kids did an extremely good job in their half-court defense,” said Guilfoyle coach Mark Moschella. “That’s what you need. Hopefully we can just stay consistent and keep going out and performing like this.”
As long as they have players like senior point guard Angela Greaser, that shouldn’t be a problem. The 2003 MAC MVP led BG with a game-high 19 points, including three three-pointers, Lindsey Sissler netted 11 and eight Lady Marauders put their names in the score book.
“They’re a great basketball team,” said Tyrone coach Jim Swaney, whose team fell to 0-5 and 0-3 in the MAC. “They have a lot of kids back. And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Greaser is the best player in Blair County and probably Central Pennsylvania. She dictates a lot of what goes on, and I was very impressed with Sissler.”
Greaser and Sissler combined for 19 points in the first half, when the Lady Marauders built a 42-17 halftime lead. All of Greasers baskets from beyond the arc came in the first half, part of six BG hit as a team.
“We’re not what you would call a three-point shooting team,” Moschella said. “If we have the open look we’ll take it, but when the ball goes in you look great. When you rebound the basketball, you look good, and we were able to do both those things tonight.”
Along with its 19-0 run in the third, Guilfoyle also had runs of seven and nine in the first and second quarters, respectively.
Tyrone’s biggest run, meanwhile, was six unanswered points to end the game. Hilary McNelis led the Lady Eagles with 11 points and six rebounds and Ashley Roth added eight.
But while the game was, for all intents and purposes, as lopsided as the final score would indicate, Swaney saw plenty of positives for his team to build on heading into another three-game week.
“For the first time all year, I think our kids got frustrated,” he said. “You play hard and you scrap for some lose balls and scrap to get on the boards, but when you don’t hit shots, things have a tendency to snowball on you. But I believe in our kids. And I know this may be hard for some people to see right now, but we’re
going to be a good basketball team someday. I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t know when that’s going to be. Until then, we’re going to keep plugging away and working hard and good things will happen to us.”
HOOP NOTES: BG dressed 22 players for the varsity and jayvee games, while Tyrone dressed 12….Emily Lloyd finished with four points, three rebounds and two steals for Tyrone….the Lady Eagles committed 14 turnovers, seven coming in the third quarter….the game marked the second time this season Tyrone has been subject to the Mercy Rule. The other was in a 63-31 loss to Indian Valley.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Guilfoyle led Tyrone 11-10 after the first quarter but outscored the Lady Eagles 34-12 over the second and third in a 57-26 win in the junior varsity game.
Sharon Long led Tyrone with 12 points, Tiffany Bradford scored eight, and Heather Stanton grabbed five rebounds.
VARSITY
BISHOP GUILFOYLE – Greaser 7 2-2 19; Sissler 5 1-1 11; Conner 1 3-4 6; McGowan 3 1-1 8; Filler 1 0-0 3; Steinbugl 4 1-2 9; DeAntonio 1 0-0 2; Shields 1 2-2 2. TOTALS: 20 10-12 68
TYRONE – McNelis 4 3-5 11; McKenna 2 0-0 5; Wallace 0 0-0 0; Roth 4 0-0 8; Lloyd 2 0-2 4; Hoover 0 2-2 2; Ingle 1 0-0 2; Stanton 0 0-0 0; Long 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 5-9 32
Score by Quarters
BISHOP GUILFOYLE 23 19 22 3 – 68
TYRONE 9 8 6 9 – 32
Three point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 6 (Greaser 3; Conner 1, McGowan 1, Filler 1).
Tyrone 1 (McKenna 1).
JUNIOR VARSITY
BISHOP GUILFOYLE – Napolitana 1 0-0 2; Steinbugl 6 0-0 13; Bowman 0 0-0 0; Seymore 3 0-0 6; Geishauser 1 2-4 2; Horell 1 0-0 2; Kitt 2 0-0 4; DeAntonio 3 0-0 6; Neugebauer 1 1-2 3; Parrish 0 0-0 0; Shields 2 0-0 4; Sommer 2 0-0 5; Wertz 1 2-2 4; Wolf 4 0-0 8. TOTALS: 27 5-8 57.
TYRONE – Ingle 1 0-0 2; Bradford 3 2-2 8; Hoover 1 0-0 2; Stanton 1 0-0 2; Glace 0 0-0 0; Long 4 1-2 12; Benakovic 0 0-0 0; Walker 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 3-6 26
BISHOP GUILFOYLE 11 17 17 12 – 57
TYRONE 10 6 6 4 – 26
Three point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 2 (Steinbugl 1, Sommer 1).
Tyrone 3 (Long 3).
