Before tip-off, Tyrone coach Jim Swaney said only good things could come out of his team’s non-conference match-up with Quad-A Hollidaysburg.
He was right.
By the middle of the fourth quarter, Joanna Turner, Marie DelBaggio and Hilary McNelis – the Lady Eagles’ top scoring options in last week’s season-opening win at Bellwood-Antis – all had come out of the game with five fouls.
It would be hard for more good to come out of a Lady Eagles game this season.
The Lady Tigers (3-1) went on to win 47-36, improving to 3-1, but afterwards Swaney said – jokes aside – that the game helped the Lady Eagles (1-1).
“Games like this in December don’t make or a break a team,” he said. “This was really a no-lose situation for us. From this game we can start to understand that there’s a difference between being patient on offense and not being aggressive. In the third quarter, I think we stayed patient but lost our aggressiveness.”
That made it a brutal quarter for the Lady Eagles, who had led the Lady Tigers 15-14 at halftime in a game where the defenses controlled the tempo throughout the first half. Tyrone went nearly four minutes at the start of the second half without scoring a point and was limited to just two field goals and six points in the period.
Still, by the 3:29 mark, they had withstood Hollidaysburg’s charge in the paint, where 5-11 senior Lauren Lingenfelter scored six of her game-high 17, and had seemingly broken out of their scoring slump when Jo Turner converted a layup off an Amber DelBaggio feed to cut the Lady Tigers’ lead to 23-21.
That’s when Allison Hall scored in traffic, took the foul from Turner, and made her free throw to build the lead back up to 26-21. Hollidaysburg closed the period on a 5-0 run, led 31-21, and was never really threatened the rest of the way.
“We started moving the ball a little better in the second half and Lauren really got us going,” said Hollidaysburg coach Jeff Appleman. “She settled for the medium-range jumper a little too much in the first half. Allison Hall was also a big part of it. She plays with no fear.”
Neither team found any rhythm in its offense until the second half, in part because most trips down court in the first half ended in a whistle. Tyrone attempted 12 foul shots in the first half, Hollidaysburg shot eight, and the teams combined on 20 turnovers in the first two quarters.
Those possessions that made it beyond a pass or two for Tyrone more often than not ended in a Lady Tiger rebound as the Lady Eagles managed to connect on just 15 of 52 shots from the field.
Marie DelBaggio was sidelined with two personal fouls with 1:11 to go in the first quarter, and by the 3:57 mark of the second she had picked up her third. She and Turner each had four at 3:19 of the third.
By 3:43 of the fourth, Turner, DelBaggio and McNelis, who against the Lady Devils combined for 47 points, were all fouled out with 20 points between them.
Appleman felt the game’s lack of flow was a result of the teams’ familiarity, after having played several times in leagues over the summer.
“We know each other’s plays and we’re both yelling what’s coming next before it happens,” he said. “That makes it tough.”
Turner ended the game with a team-high 10 points, six of which came in the second half. Lauren Haag added nine.
Both coaches said the game put their teams in a position for more pressing matchups in the coming days. Tyrone hosts Bishop Guilfoyle Friday in its Mountain League opener, while the Lady Tigers host State College next Wednesday before facing Class AAA power Mercyhurst Prep two days later.
“We know they’re going to pressure us defensively,” said Swaney, whose team went 0-2 against BG a year ago. ”We should understand from this game that we can defend pretty well. We’ll have to do it against BG and we’ll have to know where their shooters are at.”
“This game was a must-win for us,” said Appleman. “With the teams we have ahead of us, we could have potentially been 2-4 by the end of next week.”
HOOP NOTES: With Marie DelBaggio relegated to the bench for much of the game with fouls, freshman Emily McKenna played her most extensive minutes of the season and responded by grabbing four rebounds and registering four steals while defending the post most of the time… Hall scored 15 for the Lady Tigers… Hollidaysburg’s biggest lead was 15 at 38-23 with five minutes to play in the fourth quarter… both teams shot 25 foul shots, with Tyrone making 17 and Hollidaysburg 15.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Hollidaysburg led by a single basket, 12-10, after the first quarter, but went on to outscore Tyrone 31-7 the rest of the way and win the junior varsity game 43-17.
Jessica Hoover fronted Tyrone with four points, while Heather Stanton (10) and Ashley Roth (9) led the way on the boards.
VARSITY
HOLLIDAYSBURG: Lingenfelter 6 5-8 17; Hall 4 7-11 15; DeGol 2 2-2 7; A. Smith 1 1-2 3; Steiner 1 0-0 2; K. Smith 0 0-2 0; Trimarco 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 15-25 47
3-POINT GOALS: DeGol (1)
TYRONE: M. DelBaggio 0 5-8 5; Turner 4 2-4 10; A. DelBaggio 0 6-6 6; Haag 3 2-2 9; McNelis 2 1-2 5; McKenna 0 1-2 1; Bryan 0 0-1 0; Wallace 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 17-25 36
3-POINT GOALS: Haag (1)
HOLLIDAYSBURG 7 7 17 15 – 47
TYRONE 6 9 6 15 – 36
JUNIOR VARSITY
HOLLIDAYSBURG: Sommers 3 0-0 6; Trimarco 4 2-4 6; Garver 1 0-2 3; Melnik 1 0-2 2; Rothrauff 2 0-0 4; Zink 1 0-0 2; Cooper 2 0-0 4; Hollern 2 0-0 4; Smith 0 1-2 1; Gehret 2 3-3 7. TOTALS: 16 6-13 43
3-POINT GOALS: Garver (1)
TYRONE: McKenna 0 2-2 2; Wallace 2 0-2 4; Stanton 1 0-0 2; M. Hoover 0 0-0 0; Lloyd 1 1-2 3; Ingle 0 0-0 0; Lewis 0 0-0 0; Russell 0 0-0 0; Roth 1 0-0 2; J. Hoover 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 7 3-6 17
HOLLIDAYSBURG 12 12 9 10 – 43
TYRONE 10 4 0 3 – 17
