Bellefonte girls outlast BEA in basketball action

By Kenny Varner
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Updated: January 15, 2015

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – In a rival game, anything and everything is to be expected.

Monday night’s meeting between the Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area girls basketball team was no exception.

After going ahead early by eight points, the Red Raider girls had to fend off numerous rallies by the Eagles to hold onto a 38-28 victory at Bellefonte High School.

Leading the way offensively for the Lady Raiders were Alexandra Steen and Jess Book, who both notched 12-points in the contest while the Eagles leading scorer was Alyssa Ward and Haley Giedroc who both finished with seven points appiece.

“I thought we would score a little more but we got what we needed with the players we had. We got more from Ally Steen defensively than we had all season. Lexi Wetzler was very solid for us all night on defense,” Bellefonte head coach Adam Gearhart said. “Everything they came at us with Alexis, Ally and even Jess, the whole team really, when it came at them they pushed back. We haven’t done that this season which is good.”

After leading by as much as 12 points in the game, Bellefonte saw its lead start to dwindle in the third quarter as the Eagles’ offense finally came to life finishing with 13 in the quarter.

Defensively, Bald Eagle was very consistent, allowing only 10 points. As the final stanza got underway, the visitors had pulled within striking distance of the Lady Raiders, 31-24.

Leading the charge was Maddie Cingle who dropped six points in the period.

Opening up the fourth, the Eagles scored the first four points of the quarter, thanks to buckets by Alyssa Ward, making it 31-28 with only 4:09 left in the period.

Bellefonte refused to let its lead go without a fight, from there the home team finished strong on both sides of the court, outscoring the Eagles 7-4 down the stretch to hold onto the 10-point victory.

It was a group effort in the fourth as the Red Raiders got buckets from Alexis Wetzler, Lea McCartney, Raisa Gregor. Rounding out the scoring for Bellefonte was Steen with one point from the free throw line, ending the scoring at 38-28.

“They (BEA) played with a lot of heart tonight. It’s a big rivaly, Bald Eagle/ Bellefonte no matter what the records are they come out and play hard against each other,” Bald Eagle coach Troy Butterworth said. “We made our run but just couldn’t make a few shots. We had a couple of uncontested turnovers when we could have cut it to three or two. Foul shots hurt us. Seniors need to step up and take over a game. That’s what we need. We need someone to step up at crucial moments of the game and be the person who wants the ball and do something with it. But they play with heart. I can’t deny that. We could have easily went the other way.”

In the first quarter, Bellefonte came out with its defense playing it’s a-game which led to a strong offensive effort to start the game.

Book and Steen got the group out and going, posting a quick 8-0 advantage with 3:10 left. The scoring run forced the Eagles to call its first time out of the game

After the time out, Bald Eagle got its field goal of the night when Alexis Bucha hit a jumper in the lane, cutting it to 8-2.

However, that would be the only field goal that the Eagles would get as the Bellefonte defense clamped down the rest of the period, allowing only a free throw by Haley Giedroc.

When the buzzer sounded on the first quarter, the Red Raiders held an 11-3 advantage.

Things didn’t get much easier for the Eagles in the second as they were outscored 10-8 and fell behind 21-11 at the intermission.

In the Junior Varsity contest, Bald Eagle defeated Bellefonte 28-20.