Central Mountain muscles out a physical win over Lady Green Dragons

File photo
By Kenny Varner

MILL HALL – Putting it all on the line!

The Central Mountain girls basketball team left everything they had on the court Friday in their contest against Lewisburg.

Despite trailing early in the contest, the Lady Wildcats put things together from the second period on, taking the 44-41 comeback victory.

It would be a victory that the Wildcats needed.

In a very physical contest, Central Mountain got revenge with the Green Dragons after a defeat earlier on in the season.

Like the Wildcats did early in the week against MIfflin County, Central Mountain was very opportunistic on the boards and in the steal department. Central Mountain out rebounded Lewisburg 40-31.

Offensively, the Wildcats were led by the one-two punch of teammates Lena Walker and Taylor Doyle who finished with 13 points and 12 point respectively.

“It was a grinder tonight. We told them at halftime we were in a grinder. What we meant by that is that it is a possession game. Every possession is going to matter,” said Central Mountain coach Scott Baker said. “We were down at time because in the first half we missed 10 lay ups. So we felt at the end of the first quarter we should have been leading by five. We were down seven. we felt we left the door open way too long.  It I was proud how they kept grinding and grinding. That’s a really big win for us.”

The Green Dragons got 15 points from Teagan Osunde. Osunde kept her team on the board as she posted eight third quarter points.

Teammate Madison Moyers also finished in double figures for Lewisburg picking up a hard earned 11-point performance.

Trailing 19-14 at the half, Central Mountain came out of the intermission on a mission. They went right to work.

After an Osunde bucket, the Wildcats’ offense saw what they needed to do and went on a momentum changing run.

Doyle got things off and running with a soft jumper, starting a 12-2 run, tying the contest at 23.

In the scoring spurt, Doyle posted four points and Camdyn Weaver hit a lay up. Central Mountain continued to pound the ball at the basket zigzag zagging between their defenders. They were fearless as they headed to the bucket, making it a new ball game.

Tied at 23, the Wildcats took the lead for the first time when Walker hit a long triple that hit nothing but net with 2:34 left in the third, making it a 26-23 contest.

But the Green Dragons continued to pound the ball into Osunde. Osunde started to heat up scoring six in a 8-2 run to take back the lead.

Central Mountain was unphased as they would score the last points of the period when Walker went right to the hoop and hit the leaner as the buzzer sounded.

going into the final stanza, Central Mountain gained ground on the scoreboard, trailing by only one point.

Early in the fourth, the Wildcats went to the full court press. they were very successful. The defense helped its offense as Central Mountain opened the period on a 10-4 run, taking its biggest lead of the game. The run was bookend by two triples by Walker, making it a 40-35 advantage with 2:16 left.

The Lady Wildcats defense was very successful keeping Osunde out of the paint, limiting her to only two foul shots. She became a distributor and not a force in the paint.

The Wildcats were able to survive the final minutes with key defensive stops and key ball handling to secure the 44-41 nailbiting win.

Central Mountain 44, Lewisburg 41

LW 11   8 12 10 – 41

CM. 2 12 14 14 – 44

Scoring: LW –    Sydney Bolinsky 2 1-2 5, Madison Moyers 4 1-2 11, Addy Wuerdeman 1 1-2 3, Teagan Osunde 4 7-9 15, Addy Shedleski 3 1-2 7. Totals 14 12-18 42. CM -Elise McKean 0 1-4 1, Macy Plowman 2 0-0 4, Aubrey Eiler 1 0-0 2, Camdyn Weaver 3 0-1 6, Lena Walker 5 0-2 13, Taylor Doyle 6 0-2 12, Keely Rohrbach 0 1-2 1, Ava Doyle 1 0-0 3, Morgan Temple 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 2-11 44

Played but didn’t score: LW –  Faridah Aboverid 0 0-0 0, Ava Motto 0 0-0 0, Lauren Schwartz 0 0-0 0. CM –  Jacey Tripp 0 0-0 0.

Three-point shots: LW –  Moyers. CM –  Walker 3, A. Doyle.