Erie runs away in second half on PHS
PRINCETON — Tuesday’s second half was one the Princeton Tigresses would like to forget.
After playing a close first half, the Erie Lady Cardinals came out running and outscored the tournament hosts 36-4 in the final two quarters of play to cruise to a 57-19 victory on the second night of action in the Tigresses’ Holiday Tournament.
Tuesday’s nightcap saw Henry hold off LaMoille/Ohio 38-35.
Erie (2-0) took control with a 23-2 advantage in the third quarter and started their run with transition baskets off of Princeton (1-1) turnovers. Erie was 9-19 shooting in the third and when they did miss, they controlled the offensive glass with six of their 14 boards coming on the scoring end.
“They answered the bell in the third quarter and we didn’t,” said Princeton coach Kevin Hieronymus. “It didn’t go the way we wanted it to tonight but we’ll have better halves than what we had out there tonight.”
The first half was a different story for Princeton as they stayed close and took their only lead of the night when they scored six of the first seven points of the second quarter.
Emmalee Sears started the scoring and Makenzey Wilson followed with a steal and layup to tie the game at 13. Sears then had the highlight of the night when she caught the ball on the ground and was able to get a shot up from her knees that banked in to put PHS up 15-13.
Erie had a poor shooting second quarter, making just 1 of 16 shots, but it didn’t affect their free-throw shooting as they hit six of eight in the period and closed out the half with eight unanswered points.
Wilson and Mead had the only two buckets in the second half for PHS. They also led the team with eight rebounds apiece in the game. Sears and Mead were high scorers with six points each.
“We played good offensively and defensively in the second quarter,” said Hieronymus. “If we can bottle that up for a whole game like that, we will be right there. Erie is a very sound team and they got us tonight. I told the girls to put this one behind us as quick as we can and move on and get ready for Henry on Thursday.”
HENRY 38, LAMOILLE/OHIO 35: Despite playing without leading scorer Sheila Browning (choir contest) and leading rebounder Elizabeth Geuther (flu), the LaMoille/Ohio Lady Lions nearly defeated Henry Senachwine for their first win of the season.
The Lady Lions (0-2) had their chances in the fourth quarter but couldn’t put together consecutive baskets to take the lead.
With 40 seconds left in the game, Kaitlyn Hughes pump faked her defender in the air and scored to make it a three-point deficit.
With LaMoille/Ohio forced to foul, Emma Cluskey missed the front end of a one-and-one. A wild sequence followed when Hughes committed a double-dribble, Alissa Schrader stole the ensuing inbound pass, and the Lady Lions had three shots at the basket, but none of them were taken from three-point range before the final buzzer sounded.
LaMoille/Ohio coach Richard Gross realizes with his young roster that includes just one senior in the starting lineup that there will be some growing pains.
“We have a lot of young girls playing,” said Gross. “We have some sophomores playing without varsity experience. Tonight we were a little short with our scoring and rebounding, so our inside game struggled. They know that, but it is no excuse. You have to play with what you are given. It’s over with, and we will only get better.
“We played well against Princeton (Monday) and a lot of people came up afterwards and said how scrappy we were. That’s one thing about teams from LaMoille, and it goes way back. They won’t quit,” he said.
The Lady Lions led 17-16 at the half but were outscored 22-18 in the second half in what was a close game throughout.
Sophomore Ragen Forbes lead the way with a game-high 17 points. Schrader added seven points, all in the second half.
