Bellefonte girls take season sweep over BEA

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 5, 2019

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – Ready for round two.

For the second time this season the Bald Eagle Area girls basketball team met up with arch rival Bellefonte on the hardwood.

The Lady Raiders were looking for the sweep after winning the earlier contest 43-30 at Wingate.

After a close first half, the Lady Raiders broke the game open outscoring the Eagles 15-2 en route to the 47-29 victory.

Bellefonte out rebounded Bald Eagle 37-22.

Offensively, Bellefonte was led by Mia Johnson who finished with 15 points and five rebounds.

Teammate Sara DeHaas finished with nine points, 16 rebounds and one block.

Coming off the bench was Hanna Lauck with a 7-point game, a block and a rebound.

“That was the point of emphasis in the second half was getting box out, getting rebounds and scoring off offensive boards and getting second chance points. All of that was triggered by the defensive energy,” Bellefonte coach Adam Gearhart said. “We started getting steals, we started getting tips and it wasn’t just one. It was all of them. We were pushing it up and trying to get them back on their heels. And we were able to do that in the second half.”

Defensively, Maddie Steiner has eight steals while Mallory Smith had seven steals.

Lacee Barnhart paced the Eagles with 12 points.

“They put pressure on our guards and I think we’ve been challenged lately with taking care of the ball and rebounding. They really took advantage of our two weaknesses,” said Bald Eagle coach Darin Hazel. “Give credit to them. They were all over the boards and getting out in the passing lanes. They did things to distance themselves and that was the difference in the game right there.”

In the first quarter, Bellefonte jumped out to an 8-6 lead. Four players hit two points apiece while Barnhart finished with all six points for her team in the period.

Bald Eagle battled back in the second quarter and took the lead on an old fashion 3-point play by Rachel Veneziano. That would put her team up 9-8 with 6:38 left in the half.

Bellefonte battled back, going on a 6-0 run to take back the lead and go ahead by five.

Leading the way was Steiner, Johnson and Lauck and DeHaas.

A bucket down low by Sarah Holler cut the Red Raider lead to three.

Steiner upped it back to five on a fast break lay in.

But Bald Eagle ended the first half scoring on two foul shots by Lexi Scripek, making it a 16-13 contest at the half.

Bellefonte came out of the intermission like a team possessed.

They quickly posted the first 11 points of the period. Six of those came came from the soft jumper of Johnson.

The Red Raider defense locked in on the Eagles offense, allowing only two points while its offense churned out 15.

Bald Eagle gave it all they had in the fourth period, posting 14 points.

However, the Red Raiders finished with 15 and the victory and sweep of their rivals.

In the JV contest, the Red Raiders outlasted the Eagles’ 16-5.