Juniata girls knock off TVL foe Line Mountain

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 2, 2022

Juniata 55, Line Mountain 51

MIFFLINTOWN – Line Mountain came into this game with an undefeated record in the Tri-Valley League and appeared as though the Eagles were going to remain that way.

That was until the fourth quarter where the Juniata Indians dug deep and powered their way past the Eagles to put an end to the undefeated bid by the final score of 55-51 in girls basketball action Tuesday night.

Going into the fourth and final quarter of the game, Juniata had not led one time at this point of the evening. Down 44-37, the Indians continued to fight and got closer and closer to the Line Mountain lead and eventually with six minutes to play, Juniata had the lead down to 46-43.

But Juniata still just could not get within striking distance of Line Mountain. But the Indians refused to quit and kept battling and battling until with just under three minutes remaining, Mackenzie Bennett nailed two free throws that gave Juniata its first lead of the game 52-51.

One of the contributing factors for Juniata to complete the comeback was giving Line Mountain a taste of its own medicine using a full court press that was used earlier on the Indians which forced them to have to comeback in the first place.

And much like Juniata in the first quarter, the Eagles struggled to get their shots to go down in the fourth quarter as the Indians held Line Mountain to just seven points in the period.

Bennett and Regan Lowrey helped carry the load in the fourth quarter especially on the foul line as Bennett dropped five of six shots from the line while Lowrey was two of four.

Bennett also hit big time shots from inside as well as outside. Bennett scored 10 of the 18 total points in the quarter. Bennett had a total of 25 points for the whole game.

But according to coach Smith, it was more than just Bennett who helped with the comeback and got big contributions off the bench from Anna Mae O’Brien and Shalelyn Armstrong. Also Ava Shearer who was scoreless for most of the game and came up with some clutch rebounds and putbacks in the frame.

Also Haley Mummah who scored four points also helped contribute to the defensive pressure and forced the Eagles into committing turnovers.

Talon Walton also scored in double digits for Juniata as Walton scored a total of 12 points.

Jaya London led the Eagles with 11 points.

The Indians also won during the junior high boys basketball game against Line Mountain by the final score of 46-31. Jasper Shepps led the Indians with 21 points.

Juniata is now (11-5) overall and (9-2) in the TVL and look to keep the ball rolling on Thursday as the Indians will travel to face Upper Dauphin.

Juniata 55, Line Mountain 51
JUNIATA
Mackenzie Bennett 8 6-8 25, Talon Walton 5 1-2 12, Haley Mummah 1 1-2 4, Shalelyn Armstrong 0 0-0 0, Regan Lowrey 2 3-8 8, Ava Shearer 2 0-1 4, Anna Mae OáBrien 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 11-21 55
3-point goals: Bennett 3, Walton, Mummah, Lowrey
LINE MOUNTAIN
Sage Hoover 2 3-6 7, Terri Reichard 2 2-2 7, Jaya Landon 5 1-2 11, Hannah Ruchoniemi 2 0-0 5, Kyleen Michael 2 0-0 5, Emily Gonsar 3 0-0 8, Liz Spieles 3 1-3 8. Totals: 19 7-13 51
3-point goals: Reichard, Ruchoniemi, Michael, Gonsar 2, Spieles
Score by quarters
LM 16-13-15-17 – 51
J 6-17-14-18 – 55