Pretty in pink

By Jim Lane

For the Mirror

It was "Pink for a Cure" night at the AAHS Fieldhouse on Tuesday, but the Altoona Lady Lions sent the Hollidaysburg Lady Tigers home feeling blue.

Playing arguably their best basketball of the young season, the Lady Lions mercy-ruled the Lady Tigers, 53-19, before a nice turnout of fans, many of whom were wearing pink T-shirts to honor the occasion.

"This [score] is unbelievable," said Altoona junior Marrysa Moyer, who led the Lady Lions with 16 points. "Words can't express how excited we all are.

"We kind of figured we'd go out there and play our hardest, but we never thought something like this [would happen]."

The outcome was never in doubt as Altoona jumped to 10-0 and 16-0 leads, forcing the Tigers to call timeouts at 4:44 and 2:35 of the first quarter. They were unable to stop the bleeding, though, as Altoona resumed domination on both ends of the floor.

The Lady Lions led 26-3 after one quarter and 37-4 at the half. The Tigers made only 1-of-22 shots in the first half, including 1-of-14 from 3-point land. Rachel McClain's trey at 1:39 of the first was the Tigers' only field goal of the half.

Meanwhile, Altoona zoomed out of the gate with 9-of-15 shooting in the first quarter. Moyer scored eight in the opening quarter, Lysa Mealing tallied six in the first and finished with 11 while Shelby Reimer knocked down 3-of-4 treys in the first eight minutes.

"In our pre-game talk, Coach [Craig] Long told us they couldn't score in the first quarter, and that would get us ahead," Moyer said, "so we went out there with the mentality they weren't going to score and we were going to get the momentum to win."

A pair of Moyer baskets gave Altoona a 40-point advantage [45-5] three minutes into the second half, and started the running clock.

"What does Joe Paterno say?" Long asked. "You're not as good as you think you are when you win, and you're not as bad as you think when you lose."

However, Long admitted his team "played pretty well."

"Moyer and Mealing ... whenever they can get out in the open court, they're pretty fast kids," he said. "Credit Shelby [Reimer] and Courtney [Dry] and Jess Knott for advancing the ball to them.

"It was all clicking."

Not much clicked for Hollidaysburg, though.

"I'm disappointed, obviously," Tiger coach Joe Hurd said. "Even with a lot of youth and inexperience, we have been playing fairly well and practicing very well.

"But, we never got out of the chute [tonight]."

Game notes: Supported by Pro Active Sports, the "Pink for Cure" game raised over $3,000 to be donated to breast cancer research. ... Altoona, now 5-1, will play in the Red Lion Tournament Dec. 28 and 29. ... Hollidaysburg, 3-3, will play in the Jim Ellis Tournament at Bishop Guilfoyle Dec. 28-30.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (19): Collins 3 0-0 6, Gildea 2 0-2 4, Mercer 0 0-0 0, Griffith 0 1-2 1, Gildea 0 0-2 0, McClain 1 0-0 3, Uzmack 2 0-0 4, Boland 0 0-0 0, Colmer 0 1-4 1. Totals - 8 2-10 19.

ALTOONA (53): Moyer 6 4-4 16, Mealing 3 5-7 11, Reimer 3 0-0 9, Knott 1 0-0 3, Dry 0 0-0 0, Smith 2 0-0 4, K. DeCriscio 0 0-0 0, Becker 1 0-0 2, Davis 3 0-0 6, Murtagh 0 0-0 0, E. DeCriscio 1 0-0 2, Hippo 0 0-0 0, Luciano 0 0-0 0. Totals - 20 9-11 53.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hollidaysburg3 1 7 8 - 19

Altoona26 11 10 6 - 53

3-point goals: Hollidaysburg 1 (McClain); Altoona 4 (Reimer 3, Knott).

Records: Hollidaysburg (3-3); Altoona (5-1).

Officials: Joe Bilka, Dave Baronner, Jeff Fisher.

JV: Altoona 52-24. High scorers-Lauren Hippo, A, 18; Susie Ellis, 11.