Bellefonte rally back but falls in heartbreaking fashion to Central, 39-37

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 20, 2018

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – After battling back from a 16-8 halftime deficit, the Bellefonte Lady Raiders basketball team took the momentum in the second to take a seven point lead, going into the final two minutes.

However, down the stretch, the Central Dragons went inside to center Kylie Metzger, tying it up with under a minute to play.

Heartbreak came to the Red Raiders on Teacher Appreciation night as with 2.2 ticks left on the clock, Madison Eicher hit two of two from the line, giving the Dragons a 39-37 victory.

“We lost it in the first half. We just played sloppy. We were trying to be fancy and not fundamental and Central took advantage,” Bellefonte coach Adam Gearhart said. “Central is a good team and they’re well coached. They knew what they needed to do and did it and we didn’t.”

Mallorie Smith led the Bellefonte scoring attack as she finished with 16 points as the floor general.

Sara DeHaas did her job on the boards for her team’s near comeback as she finished with 11 boards and six points.

Maddie Tice, who was in foul trouble for most of the game, finished with nine points and six rebounds. All nine of her points came in the fourth quarter.

Coming off the bench to provide her team with a spark was the all around play of Hanna Lauck who pulled down clutch rebounds and a bucket when her team needed it.

Central got their scoring punch from the inside out as it got 14 from their Center Kylie Metzger and 13 from the outside shooting prowess of Maddi Metzler.

Going into the third quarter, Central held an 8-point advantage but the Lady Raiders were about to March themselves back into the ball game.

“We talked at halftime about coming out with energy. But we need to finish. We have to learn to finish,” Gearhart said. “We need to work on those situations and we need to learn to finish. That is one that we are going to look back on it and know that it got away from us.

In the third, Mia Johnson got the scoring started with a soft jumper, cutting it to 16-10.

Back came Central with a bucket to go back up by eight.

Smith got out on the floor and hit a shot in transition to once again make it just a six-point deficit.

But Central again had an answer. Maddi Metzler hit a jumper to build back up the lead.

But then the Lady Raiders started to make a move, going on a 10-4 run to end the third quarter scoring with Bellefonte in striking distance at 27-24.

The comeback started with starters Tice and Bella Corman on the bench in foul trouble.

Maddi Metzler got the fourth quarter off and running with a jumper to put the Dragons up by five.

But the Lady Raiders continued

to heat up offensively going on another run and putting the momentum back on their side.

After going on an 11-0 run, the Lady Raiders held a 37-31 advantage with 1:26 left.

From there, things seemed to take a turn for the worse for the home team as Central went back into the middle and Kylie Metzler quickly scored four points, consecutively.

With time running down at 17.8, Tori Longenecker hit a clutch bucket, tying the game at 37.

After missed free throws by the Red Raiders, Central got one last shot at picking up the win.

Taking the ball to the heart of the defense, Kylie Metzler went up for a shot but Bellefonte refused to allow the easy shot and her shot missed.

Unfortunately for the Red Raiders the ball went into the hands of Madison Eicher. She went up for the shot and was hacked with 2.2 ticks left.

Despite the pressure of the game at hand, Eicher hit both shots and helped the team escape with a 39-37 victory.

With the win, Central improves to 3-3 while Bellefonte falls to 3-3.

In the JV contest, Central defeated Bellefonte 39-11.