Lewistown head coach Kevin Kodish isn’t comfortable talking about The Streak.
In fact, he would probably rate discussing the Lady Panthers’ Voo Doo-like hex over the Tyrone Lady Eagles somewhere below doing his taxes and visiting the dentist.
That doesn’t make the Lady Panthers’ incredible run against Tyrone any less real or remarkable.
It doesn’t change the fact that, for nine seasons, Lewistown has come to play hard when they face the Lady Eagles and come out on the winning end every time.
Lewistown extended its dominance over Tyrone last night in the District 6-AAA semi-finals at Bald Eagle Area High School with a 71-52 victory that sent the Lady Eagles to the consolation game for the third straight season and catapulted the Lady Panthers to their eighth finals appearance in the last nine seasons.
It was the Lady Panthers’ 22nd consecutive victory over Tyrone dating back to February of 1994.
“I hate to think about it,” said Kodish. “It’s amazing because Tyrone is such a high quality program. I have tremendous respect for (coach) Jim Swaney because he always gets his girls to play hard and execute. I think he’s one of the top coaches in the state.”
But while Kodish’s praise of Tyrone’s 15-year coach is unwavering even in victory, you’ll have to excuse Swaney for not sharing his outlook. According to Swaney, it was the Lady Eagles’ inability to execute for a full 32 minutes, along with a lack of aggression at the guard positions, that ultimately did in Tyrone.
“The last two minutes of the second quarter and a two or three minute span in the third quarter were the deciding factors,” Swaney said. “We didn’t play very aggressive out front. They were much more aggressive than us at the guard positions.”
The moments Swaney referred to were swift and brutal for the Lady Eagles. Tyrone trailed 25-19 with 1:43 left in the first half when Lewistown went on a 9-2 run to head into the locker room ahead 34-21. Seven of the points in the run came from guards, and four came off Tyrone turnovers, including a steal and lay up by Emily Searer with 6.8 seconds to go in the quarter.
Then in the third, Tyrone made a push to get the score back in single digits at the five-minute mark before the Lady Panthers sprung a 1-2-1-1 full-court press on the Lady Eagles that drained them physically and emotionally.
It started innocently when Jenna Craig scored on a putback, allowing the Lady Panthers to set up their press. Over the next four minutes, Tyrone would turn the ball over in the backcourt five times, leading to four Lewistown lay ups. The Lady Panthers scored 17 of the game’s next 23 points and were up 55-33 with just over a minute remaining in the third.
In all, Tyrone turned the ball over seven times in the third, and trailed 57-35 at quarter’s end.
It didn’t help that Tyrone senior Marie DelBaggio was forced to the bench early in the period with her third foul, and Tyrone’s situation was only made worse by the Lady Panthers’ ability to freely sub up to four players in and out at a time.
“We held off on the full-court pressure until the second half because of (Tyrone’s lack of depth),” said Kodish. “We wanted to run to wear them down. We were able to get a lot of players in and that got them experience for future District level games and it got our starters a break so they could be fresh.”
The plan worked to perfection, and there was little Tyrone could do to stop it.
When the Lady Eagles were able to dictate the tempo of the game and play at their own pace, Lewistown found it hard to stop them. In the first quarter alone, DelBaggio scored 11 points and the Lady Panthers had no answer for her on the glass or in the post with the ball. The Lady Eagles trailed just 15-13 at the end of the frame.
DelBaggio finished with a game-high 23 points and 14 rebounds after fouling out late in the fourth quarter. She battled foul trouble most of the game after picking up three by the 1:13 mark of the first quarter. Often, she found herself forced to give help when Tyrone’s guard were unable to limit the Lady Panthers’ guard penetration.
When DelBaggio wasn’t controlling play on the interior, senior post Joanna Turner took her turn. She scored 16 points and had eight rebounds.
“Marie’s foul trouble was big,” said Swaney. “Every game, she’s the best player on the floor, but she can’t be sitting beside me. She played her heart out. We have the best two-post combination in school history with her and Jo and there were stretches where we just couldn’t get them the ball.”
In all, Tyrone posts accounted for 44 of the Lady Eagles’ 52 points.
“I think there were times when our guards had open looks and we passed them up,” said Swaney.
Despite trailing by as many as 26 in the fourth quarter (63-37), Tyrone made a run late to almost get back into the game, running off 10 in a row at one point. DelBaggio hit a three-pointer, followed by a conventional three-point play by Turner. A Kylie Wallace lay up followed by seven more points from Turner and DelBaggio had it down to 65-52 with 3:20 to play.
But the Lady Panthers’ balanced attack was too much for the Lady Eagles to overcome. Lewistown placed four players in double figures and had one other with eight.
Heady Alicia Espigh found open spots in Tyrone’s defense for uncontested jumpers and led the way for Lewistown with 17 points. Andrea Kauffman, who worked all night to gain position for offensive rebounds and putbacks, scored 14. Craig scored 10 off the bench and Maddie Runk also finished with 10.
“We want to be known as a traditionally good shooting team,” said Kodish.
HOOP NOTES: Tyrone turned the ball over 19 times, including 18 over the first three quarters….Lewistown’s victory, combined with a Johnstown win over Indian Valley in the other District semi-final, sets up a rematch of last season’s final between Lewistown and Johnstown. Johnstown beat Lewistown in overtime a year ago….the 71 points surrendered by Tyrone was its second-highest this season, surpassed only by the 74 it gave up to the Lady Panthers in January….6-AAA girls consolation games are slated for Thursday at a time and site. Tyrone will face Indian Valley, after splitting with the Lady Warriors in the regular season.
Lewistown 71, Tyrone 52
TYRONE – M. DelBaggio 8 5-5 23; Turner 5 6-6 16; A. DelBaggio 1 0-0 2; Haag 0 2-2 2; McNelis 2 1-2 5; McKenna 0 2-2 2; Wallace 1 0-0 2; Bryan 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 16-17 52.
LEWISTOWN – Craig 5 0-0 10; Kauffman 7 0-0 14; Searer 4 0-0 8; Knable 2 1-1 5; Runk 4 1-2 10; Espigh 7 3-6 17; Cunningham 3 1-1 7. TOTALS: 32 6-10 71.
Score By Quarters
Tyrone 13 8 14 17 – 52
Lewistown 15 19 23 14 – 71
Three-point goals: Tyrone 2 (M. DelBaggio 2); Lewistown 1 (Runk).
