Sometimes, it’s just one of those games. The atmosphere in the Bellwood Antis gymnasium last evening was almost one of disbelief. The Bellwood Antis Lady Blue Devils held a four to eight point lead almost the entire game over the Lady Rockets of Southern Huntingdon. Southern manufactured very little offense, and although the B-A lead was small, it seemed impossible that the Lady Rockets could mount a comeback. But with under three minutes left in the game, Southern made a charge and overtook Bellwood-Antis to pull away with a 35-31 win.
Bellwood jumped out to a 12-5 lead after one quarter thanks in big part to B-A’s balance. Four different Lady Blue Devils scored in the first quarter. Emily Worthing and Ashley Edevane each had a three-point field goal, and Stephanie Hatch had four points in the paint. Meanwhile, Southern must have thought there was a lid on the basket that prevented the ball from going through. The Lady Rockets seemed to be out of sync from the get-go partially thanks to the tough defense of the Bellwood girls.
The second quarter saw both teams put only six points on the scoreboard resulting in an 18-11 halftime advantage for Bellwood. Both the Lady Rockets and the Lady Blue Devils had trouble putting the ball through the hoop in the quarter. Southern continued its ice-cold shooting from the field, and turnovers also plagued the squad.
The Lady Blue Devils seemed to have control of the game. However, in the third quarter, a long B-A scoring draught saw Southern claw its way back into the game. Southern outscored Bellwood-Antis 10-5 in the third quarter that was capped off by a buzzer beater three-point field goal by one of the Lady Rockets guards to cut the deficit to 23-21 after three stanzas.
The fourth quarter is when everything fell apart for the Lady Blue Devils. Bellwood-Antis jumped on Southern and scored four early points in the fourth quarter to skyrocket the lead back up to six. Emily Worthing hit a huge three-pointer to give Bellwood-Antis what seemed to be a comfortable 30-23 lead with almost four minutes left to go in the game.
Southern battled back and hit two huge treys sandwiched around a Katie Gardner foul shot and suddenly the Lady Rockets were within two points with 51 seconds left. Southern’s next possession resulted in a foul, and Miranda Benson netted one of two free throws making it a 31-30 BA lead with 40 seconds to go.
After a missed shot by B-A, Southern pushed the ball down the court and took a quick pull-up jumper that hit nothing but net as the Rockets took the 32-31 lead with only 19 seconds left. Bellwood-Antis called a quick timeout, and Southern was able to pick off the ensuing in bounds pass. Southern brought it down the court and made a lay up plus the foul. After the made foul shot the lead was 35-31 Southern and that is how the game would end as B-A dropped a second cycle heartbreaker.
Miranda Benson of Southern Huntingdon was the only player in the game to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points. Bellwood-Antis was led by Steph Hatch and Katie Gardner who scored eight points each.
“It was a hard fought defensive game,” said Bellwood coach Nick Lovrich. “Southern Huntingdon executed well towards the end of the game, and we didn’t.”
Bellwood-Antis returns to action on Friday as they host the Lady Vikings of Glendale. This will be Senior night for the Lady Blue Devil squad. JV tip is at 6 p.m. with Varsity following at 7:30.
The Bellwood JV team fell to the Lady Rockets of Southern Huntingdon by a score of 32-26. Lauren Carter led Bellwood with nine points. The B-A junior varsity squad dropped to 14-5 on the year.
Southern Huntingdon 35 Bellwood-Antis 31
SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON – Kern 2 3-5 7, Streightiff 2 0-0 4, Benson 3 1-2 10, Brown 0 0-0 0, Shope 2 2-2 6, Clark 1 0-2 3, Houck 1 0-0 2, Robinson 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 12 6-11 35.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Worthing 2 0-0 6, Edevane 2 1-2 6, Hatch 4 0-0 8, Meredith 1 1-2 3, Gardner 3 2-4 8, Swanson 0 0-0 0, Sprankle 0 0-0 0, Erickson 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 12 4-8 31.
Score By Quarters
Southern Huntingdon 5 6 10 14 – 35
Bellwood-Antis 12 8 5 8 – 31
Three-point goals: Southern Huntingdon 5 (Benson 3, Clark 1, Robinson 1); Bellwood-Antis 3 (Worthing 2, Edevane 1)
