Lady Red Raiders finish tourney with spirited effort

By Kenny Varner
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Updated: December 7, 2014

By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – After falling Friday to host Mifflin County in the opening of the Huskies’ Annual Tip-Off Tournament, the Bellefonte girls basketball team came back in Saturday’s Consolation round and gave their opponent, Williamsport, all it could handle before falling in the final minutes to the Millionaires 45-39 Saturday afternoon at the Mifflin County Gym.

Offensively, the Red Raiders were led by the steady shooting hand of Ally Steen who posted 12 points. Teammate Jess Book showed her all-around ability going for 10 points and 13 rebounds. Besides finishing with a double-double, Book finished with three steals and one blocked shot.

However, the Millionaires were led by the strong inside game of Jaynell Robinson and Jahnae Hal-Gaddy. The two combined for over 20 rebounds with Robinson collecting 14. She also led all scorers in the contest with a clutch 20-point performance.

To the Red Raiders’ credit, they never trailed by double-figures in the contest and got the game to as close as four points late in the contest.

In the fourth, Bellefonte trailed 37-29 but with one swish of a triple by Book, the Lady Raiders pulled the game to 37-32 with seven minutes still left in the contest.

Williamsport bounced right back as the team got the ball back into the hands of outside threat Myeesha Peterson. Peterson did not disappoint as she hit nothing but net to increase her the lead up to seven.

But the Red Raiders made the most of its next possession and got it back to Book. Book’s run at the basket went in, closing the score back to a 5-point deficit with still over six minutes to go.

After numerous turnovers and missed shots by both teams, Robinson battled inside and popped a clutch field goal, making it 41-34.

With 4:30 left in the contest, the Red Raiders got their crowd going when the ball got out to Mara Tamminger. Tamminger stepped back from beyond the arc and drilled a triple.

With the bucket, Bellefonte found itself trailing by only four.

But in the final three minutes of play, Williamsport made the shots they needed to, outscoring Bellefonte 4-2 the rest of the way.

“They (Williamsport) made the plays late,” Bellefonte girls coach Adam Gearhart said. “I can’t fault my girls because they ran the game plan to a T. they did what they had to do the whole game. They all worked hard the whole game.”

Bellefonte won the scoring battle in the final stanza by a 10 to eight margin but were outscored in the second half by a 19-18 margin.

In the opening period, Bellefonte and Williamsport went toe-to-toe early on with each other as the first two minutes in a close battle.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, the Millionaires inside game of Robinson was just warming up as she collected seven of her 20 points came in the opening quarter.

Williamsport led 13-5 when the second period got underway.

Mifflin County 68, Bellefonte 30

LEWISTOWN – In the Red Raiders opening game of the season, Bellefonte went up against a strong and veteran Mifflin County team that mixed the longball with a powerful inside game.

The Huskies stopped the Lady Raiders 68-30.

Jess Book opened the 2014-15 campaign strong finishing with a hard-earned 16 points. In that point total, Book hit 2 three-pointers and led her team in scoring. She was the only Red Raider that finished in double digits.

Much like in Saturday’s game, the Lady Raiders trailed by single digits after one period of play.

Mifflin County were led by Jessa Wright and Elena Eckley in the first period who finished with a six-point and a five-point effort, respectively.

Wright finished her night with a 16-point effort while Eckley and teammate Maggie Wilson both finished with 12.

Bellefonte is back in action Wednesday when it travels to Huntingdon.