Friday night delight!! MC girls sweep CD East
LEWISTOWN- The future is looking bright for the Mifflin County girls basketball team as they showed Friday night as they battled Central Dauphin East in a nail biting Mid-Penn battle.
It could be described as an instant classic as the Lady Huskies were able to hold on to a 51-48 victory.
After honoring lone senior, Morgan Weston, the Huskies were able to claw and scratch their way to the victory, never falling behind by more than three the entire way through.
Leading the way for the Lady Huskies was Katie Knable as she posted a 14-point effort.
She was just one of four Huskies to finish the game with double-digit scoring.
Marissa Gingrich complimented Knable’s game with 11 points of her own while teammates Emma Yeager and Brianna Bodtorf tallied 10.
Central Dauphin East got a strong inside offensive performance from Aaliyah Bradford who posted a game-high 20-point effort.
Teammate Mikayla Wright also had a hot hand, posting 11.
The game was back and forth from beginning to end, as the game went into the final stanza.
Holding a 43-41 advantage going into the period, the quarter would be a rollercoaster ride of emotions for both teams down the stretch.
With the ball to start the final stanza, Bradford got scoring started as she was fouled going to the hoop.
She hit one-of-two, cutting the Huskies lead to one.
Gingrich led her team back as she hit a runner in the lane, extending the MC lead up to three, 45-42.
After forcing a Panther turnover, the Mifflin County started to work the ball around and Gingrich scored on a give and go, as she laid it up and in, extending her team’s lead.
Withstanding another CD East offensive drive, the Huskies got the ball to Emma Yeager at the key for the jumper.
The bucket forced the Panthers to call a time out as Mifflin County upped its lead to 49-42 with 6:14 left.
Coming out of the break, the Panthers got back on the board when Alivia Edmonds got free under the bucket and got the ball for the easy lay-up.
Back came the Huskies as the offense started to work the ball to try to take some time on the clock, after taking about a minute of the clock, the Lady Huskies got the ball to Knable and from there she did the rest. Knable hit the jumper, extending the lead to seven with 4:30 left.
On the following Panther possession, the team moved the ball up the court and into the hands of Skye Ewings and she was hacked going up for the shot, sending her to the line.
She was a perfect 2-for-2, making it a 51-46 contest.
Mifflin County continued to take more time off the clock. By the time either team would score again would come at 1:15.
In the that time, Yeager pulled down clutch rebounds frustrating the Panthers by allowing them limited shots at the hoop.
But CD East made one last run in the final 1:15, getting the ball to Bradford inside posting a spin move and shot, cutting things to just three points.
With 56 seconds left on the clock, CD East had a chance to cut the game to a single point when Wright stepped to the line in a one-on-one situation. He first shot bounced off the rim and Mifflin County pulled down the rebound.
With one last chance at tying the game, CD East got the ball and missed its shot from there it was a battle for the ball as neither team could get possession. But with six seconds left, the ball bounced out of the pile of bodies and into the hands of Gingrich as she ran out the clock to give Mifflin County the win and the season sweep.
In the opening period, the Lady Huskies started off strong, posting an early 20-15 advantage.
But the second quarter belonged to the Panthers as they battled back to cut the MC lead only 30-28 at the half.
Both team’s played to a stalemate in the third, both posting 13.
But in the end, the Huskies were able to notch the victory, sending their fans home happy on senior night.
In JV action, the Huskies took the contest 44-41.