It’s difficult to quantify all the things a player like Marie DelBaggio can mean to a basketball team.
The 6-foot senior guard has a feel for the varsity game that comes along with starting since her ninth grade season and a desire to lead you would expect from a captain.
They’re the kinds of things that aren’t easily measured on a stat sheet, but through the first three games of her senior season, the stat sheet spoke volumes – six field goals, 21 points and a 7 points per game average while fouling out three times.
Tyrone coach Jim Swaney saw his patience wearing thin with DelBaggio after she scored four points in a 55-43 loss to Bishop Guilfoyle last Friday and he issued her a challenge to step up and lead the team or step aside.
She responded Saturday by scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to help lead the Lady Eagles to a 61-47 win over previously undefeated Indian Valley in Burnham.
“This was by far Marie’s most consistent game of the season,” said Swaney. “She fouled out again but she was much more aggressive than she had been. She rebounded very well and that’s something that has been constant throughout her career – she’s always gotten to the glass.”
The win evened the Lady Eagles’ record at 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the league. Valley fell to 4-1 and 3-1 in conference play.
Senior Amber DelBaggio led Tyrone with a game-high 17 points, her highest single-game total of the season, and Hilary McNelis added 14 points to go along with nine boards.
The Lady Eagles led Valley by five at the half (27-22) and never allowed the Lady Warriors’ big guns to take the game over. With Joanna Turner playing just 12 minutes as a result of foul trouble, McNelis took on the assignment of guarding Valley leading scorer Jen Quay, limiting the 5-10 senior to 15, but “she worked for every one of them,” according to Swaney.
Meanwhile, the combination of Marie DelBaggio, Emily McKenna and Lauren Haag held Emily Harlacher, who entered the game averaging nearly 13 points per game, to just five.
“For a team that had major defensive question marks entering the season, we’ve really defended people,” said Swaney, whose team is surrendering just 48 points per game.
It was the kind of game the Lady Eagles were in need of after dropping two in a row, and it may have allowed them to regain some of the confidence they lost while being outplayed and outscored by 18 points in the first half of last week’s loss to the Lady Marauders.
“The funny thing is Indian Valley and BG are teams that really mirror each other,” said Swaney. “They get a lot from their motion offense and setting screens and they get a lot of offense from their defense. I can’t answer the question of why we came out flat against BG. But tonight was a case of desire. We wanted it.”
The challenge now for Tyrone is to string games like Saturday’s together. It was only two weeks ago that the Lady Eagles followed up a blowout win over Bellwood-Antis with losses to Hollidaysburg and Guilfoyle.
It’s a challenge made more difficult by the schedule. Tyrone plays at Huntingdon tonight in a game rescheduled after last Wednesday’s ice storm, hosts Lewistown on Tuesday and then plays Bald Eagle Area in Tyrone on Friday. Lewistown has been at or near the top of the league for eight seasons while Huntingdon and BEA are resurgent programs built around hustle and physical play.
“We’ve warned them,” said Swaney. “If we let down against Huntingdon, we may as well have lost this game. They’re not bad. They shoot the ball well and they defend pretty well. If we don’t play like we’re capable of, we could get beat.”
HOOP NOTES: McNelis also added five assists for Tyrone… Megan Hartman added 15 points for the Lady Warriors… seven of McNelis’ boards were on the offensive end… Tyrone hasn’t lost to Huntingdon since dropping the season series in 1998-99.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Despite eight points from Kylie Wallace, the Tyrone jayvee team lost to Valley 45-28.
Tyrone 61 Indian Valley 47
TYRONE – M. DelBaggio 5 2-2 14; Turner 3 1-1 7; A. DelBaggio 5 4-4 17; Haag 3 0-0 6; McNelis 5 4-9 14; McKenna 1 1-1 3; Bryan 0 0-0 0; Wallace 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 12-17 61
INDIAN VALLEY – Hartman, 6 2-4 15; Shellenberger 1 0-0 2; Harlacher 2 1-3 5; Mitchell 2 1-2 5; Quay 4 4-7 15; Tewksbury 0 0-0 0; Schaaf 2 0-0 4; Dell 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 17 9-8 47
Score by Quarters
TYRONE 14 13 17 20 – 61
INDIAN VALLEY 11 11 15 12 – 47
3-POINT GOALS: Tyrone 5 (A. DelBaggio 3, M. DelBaggio 2); Indian Valley 4 (Hartman 1, Quay 3)
