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Sizzling start leads to 68-point effort by Lady Raiders over Bulldogs

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – After playing the top team in the Mountain League tough days before, the Bellefonte Red Raiders girls basketball team  welcomed Jersey Shore Wednesday night.

The Lady Raiders got off to a sizzling start and never took their foot off the throttle en route to a 68-22 victory.

“I think definitely the best game I’ve seen them play all year. It just shows the progress of what we’ve done over the last couple weeks of practice,” said Bellefonte coach Marcus Toomer. “We got off to a really rough start at 0-5. Now we are 2-1 in our last three games. It feels really good. We lost the other night against Tyrone but they play really hard and it was a really great effort. We get to continue to see that success that they’re having.”

Maddie Tice played the role of the pick pocket as she finished with nine steals on the night as she finished with a game high 25 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds in just three and a half quarters of action.

Dominating the middle for Bellefonte was Bella Corman as she was able to post up down low and in the middle for a 17-point effort.

Rounding out the top three leading scorers was Mia Johnson who battled through the middle for eight points.

It would be a night that all of the Red Raiders put on the floor would get their name in the scorebook.

Lily Gardner had six, Angelina Aviles had one and Emalee Neff, Hana Radus, Madison Ripka and Mavia Cotter all had two.

The Bulldogs got half of the team’s points from Jocelyn McCracken who finished with 11. She was a bright spot for Jersey Shore on the evening, notching nine boards and five steals.

In the first period, Bellefonte got off to a strong start as it went on a 6-0 run to start the contest.

Corman roped two inside buckets and Lily Gardner had an early bucket.

Jersey Shore’s Sophia Kauffman pulled down a rebound and scored on the play.

Johnson followed in the lane for her team’s eighth point.

Back battled the Bulldogs as Rachel Larson also pulled down an offensive board and got the putback.

But the high energy offense that the Lady Raiders brought gave them its 10th point with Tice leading the charge and the break.

Devon Walker made it 10-5 as she went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe with 2:57 left.

In the final 2:30, the Red Raiders were able to outscore the Bulldogs 8-6 to take the lead as the period ended at 18-11.

In the second half, the Red Raiders’ offense went into overdrive as they were led by a 13-point effort by Tice and its defense kept Jersey Shore frustrated only allowing two points to be scored in the period. That was a bucket by McCracken.

When the game went into the intermission, the Lady Raiders held a comfortable 39-13 advantage.

Bellefonte clamped down even stronger in the third as they refused to allow the Bulldogs to score even a point in the stanza as it posted 21, sending the game into a “Mercy Rule” status.

Going into the fourth, Toomer was able to get some valuable playing time for his younger players as they had a 62-13 advantage.

The younger Red Raiders held their own as well as they were only outscored 9-8 in the period.

However, Bellefonte celebrated with the 68-22 victory.

Bellefonte is back in action today as it hosts Penns Valley.

Bellefonte 68, Jersey Shore 22

JS  11   2    0   9 – 22

BE  18 19 21   8 – 68

Scoring : Jersey Shore – Rachel Lorson  1 0-0 2, Celia Shemory 1 0-0 2, Devon Walker 1 1-3 3, Gracie Larson 1 0-0 2, Sophia Kauffman 1 0-0 2, Jocelyn McCracken 5 1-3 11. Totals 9 2-6 22.

Bellefonte – Lily Gardner 2 2-2 6, Mia Johnson 4 0-4 8, Emalee Neff 1 0-0 2, Maddie Tice 8 5-5 25, Bella Corman 8 1-3 17, Angelina Aviles 0 1-2 1, Hana Radus 1 0-0 2, Madison Ripka 1 0-0 2, Mavia Cotter 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 10-18 68.

Played but didn’t score: Jersey Shore – Morgan Witt 0 0-0 0, Delaney Herbst 0 0-0 0, Natalie Haight 0 0-0 0, Samantha Machmer 0 0-0 0.

3-point shots – None.

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