MC girls dominate Hershey

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: January 5, 2022

Photo by Bob Hockenbrock

LEWISTOWN – The dynamic duo of Marissa Gingrich and Bri Bodtorf together combined for more points than the entire Hershey team as the Mifflin County Huskies downed rival Hershey by the final score of 56-35 in a Mid-Penn Conference girls basketball game Tuesday night.

Gingrich and Bodtorf combined for 36 of the team’s 56 points for the evening. Gingrich scored 20 points and collected eight rebounds while Bodtorf dropped 16 points for Mifflin County and snagged five boards. Gingrich and Bodtorf were big contributors on defense as well with Gingrich having six steals and Bodtorf had four steals for the game.

One of the main focuses that Mifflin County had for the game was its disadvantage against the size and length of Hershey. However that size disadvantage went mostly unnoticed for the Huskies as they decided to attack with high energy on both sides of the ball.

Defensively the Huskies were using the full-court press throughout the entire game not allowing any room for the Trojans to even breath as soon as Hershey had gotten possession of the ball, a Mifflin County player jumped right on and applied pressure creating turnovers.

During the first quarter of the game, the high pressure defense did get Mifflin County into a little bit of foul trouble. However, Hershey failed to capitalize on its opportunities on the foul line as the Trojans only managed to make one of their five attempts at the free throw line.

The defensive pressure continued in the second quarter as Hershey not only had a tough time even scoring a basket, but were struggling to even in bound the ball. As soon as the ball was in the air, a Mifflin County player jumped in and stoled the ball and immediately went on the run.

The Trojans were held to just five points in the frame and Mifflin County took a 28-17 lead at the break.

The Huskies did have a bit of breakdown defensively in the third quarter of the game as Hershey went on a tear offensively going on an 11-0 run to even the game at 28 apiece forcing Mifflin County to call a timeout.

But once the Huskies settled down, they started shooting lights out and pulled away again from Hershey and never looked back.
The unsung heroes of the game for Mifflin County were Kate Knable who contributed on offense and defense scoring nine points and was one of the key attackers in the full-court press.

Others included Aija Bender who only scored two points in the game, but was big on the boards as Bender nabbed seven rebounds and was another key component in the full-court defense.

Last but certainly not least, was Tessa Pavlova who kept the Hershey bigs in check down low in the paint. Pavlova made her presence felt with three blocks and collected six rebounds.

The Huskies also won the JV game with the score of 30-28 with Maelyn Gingrich being the high scorer with 11 points.

With this win Mifflin County moves up to .500 with an (4-4) overall record and are (3-1) in the Mid-Penn. The Huskies will play again on Friday as they travel to face Palmyra.

Mifflin County 56, Hershey 35
MIFFLIN COUNTY
Aija Binder 1 0-0 2, Amelia Leister 0 0-0 0, Bri Bodtorf 6 2-4 16, Marissa Gingrich 14 0-0 20, Kate Knable 3 3-4 9, Mya Aumiller 2 0-0 5, Saide Fike 1 0-0 2, Mikayla Bodley 0 0-0 0, Emma Weaver 1 0-0 2, Tessa Pavlova 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 5-8 56
3-point goals: Bodtorf 2, Gingrich 2, Aumiller
HERSHEY
Lauren Yazinski 0 1-3 1, Allison Balcomb 0 0-0 0, Kaida Stover 1 0-0 3, Roma Orris 0 0-0 0, Anna Coulter 7 2-2 16, Julia Zakovitch 2 0-2 4, Mary Cotter 3 0-0 7, Lucy Brennan 0 0-0 0, Abigail Hand 0 0-0 0, Isabelle Fasucj 2 0-0 4. Totals: 15 3-7 35
3-point goals: Stover, Cotter
Score by quarters
H 12-5-15-3 – 35
MC 16-12-15-13 – 56