Lady Raiders use strong second half to lift themselves to a win over Bald Eagle

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: February 6, 2020

Bellefonte 56, Bald Eagle 35

BEL 11 13 16 16 – 56

BEA 10 11 6 8 – 35

Scoring: Bellefonte – Mallorie Smith 10 1-1 22, Lily Gardner 1 0-0 2, Mia Johnson 1 0-0 2, Maddie Tice 3 1-2 6, Bella Corman 2 2-4 5, Sara DeHaas 7 1-1 15, Taylor Kerr 0 2-2 2. Totals 24 7-10 56.

Bald Eagle Area – Lacee Barnhart 6 5-6 21, Maddie Perry 2 0-3 4, Abby Hoover 2 0-0 4, Kierra Serb 1 4-6 6. Totals 11 9-15 35.

Played but didn’t score: Bellefonte – None. Bald Eagle Area – Taylor Kilmer 0 0-0 0, Kristen Onder 0 0-0 0,Katie Snyder 0 0-0 0.

3-point shots: Bellefonte – Smith. Bald Eagle Area – Barnhart 4.

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – it was round two of the Bald Eagle Area/ Bellefonte girls rivalry game as the Red Raiders looked to sweep the season series.

Despite battling hard for the first two quarters, the Eagles couldn’t keep up with the Bellefonte transition game as the Red Raiders sizzled in the second half to take home the 56-35 victory.

“Their defense is tough and they run a junk defense and it kid of threw us off. I think we were a little too anxious a couple times during that first half. But we changed defenses to the 3-2 which is similar strategy we did against Huntingdon,” said Bellefonte coach Marcus Toomer. “Our defense turned to offense and helped us with the momentum going into the second half as we continued with that.”

Bellefonte’s Mallorie Smith led the transition game as she finished with a game-high 22 points while teammate Sara DeHaas finished with 15 points.

Bald Eagle was led by the sharpshooting guard Lacee Barnhart who posted 21 points. Four of her six field goals were from the 3-point line.

In the first quarter, it was a game of momentum shifts.

Bellefonte opened up strong as DeHaas got the ball early and often, posting the first five points of the game.

With one flick of the wrist, Barnhart cut the Red Raiders’ lead to two with a triple, making it 5-3 with 5:37 left in the period.

Smith notched her first points of the game with a lay up after a Bellefonte steal.

Another long distance shot from Barnhart, cut the lead to just one with her second trey.

Maddie Tice hit one-of-two from the free throw line, two give the visitors a 2-point advantage.

Barnhart wasn’t afraid to take it to the hole either as she was fouled going up for an inside shot, cutting back to just a one-point contest.

After pulling down a rebound, Barnhart again got the ball and was fouled in traffic. She was a perfect 2-for-2, giving her team the 9-8 lead.

Bella Coreman tied the game with 51 ticks left on the clock as she hit one-of-two from the charity stripe.

The Eagles next possession was striped away and taken by the Red Raiders’ defense. In the process, Taylor Kerr put Bellefonte ahead 11-9 with 35 seconds left.

Kierra Serb put her team to within one as she hit one of her two free throws, ending the first quarter scoring at 11-10.

“We played a really good first half. They gave us a little challenge at the end of the second quarter,” said Bald Eagle coach Darin Hazel. “We had Maddie (Tice) on the bench there with three fouls. But I thought our kids played a crisp 14 minutes. I think sometimes with us we get tired but at the end of the day Bellefonte created the turnovers. I think they had 30 turnovers so we need to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”

Bald Eagle Area opene the second period with an exclamation point as Barnhart smoked a triple, putting her team up 13-11.

That lead to a 9-2 Bald Eagle run, upping the score to 19-13 advantage.

With the run, the Red Raiders were forced to call a time out to regroup.

And regroup they did as Smith went on a rampage at the hoop, the recipient of four transition baskets and a triple to go along with the 12-0 run, taking back the lead at 24-19.

Barnhart would end the first half scoring as she hit another 2-of-2 from the line, ending the half with the Red Raiders leading, 24-21.

In the the third, the game belonged to Bellefonte as the Red Raiders outscored Bald Eagle 16-6 to extend their lead to 42-27.

Sixteen was the magic number for the Red Raiders in the second half as they posted 16 more in the final stanza while its defense held the Eagles to just eight en route to the 56-35 victory.