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Altoona downs SC for district title

TYRONE — Altoona senior Madison Shetrom burst into tears and repeated, “I’m so happy,” over and over again Friday night after receiving her District 6 Class 6A championship medal following the Lady Lions’ 54-42 win over State College.

“In my sophomore year, having that medal in my hands was so special,” Shetrom said. “Last year, I strived to get that medal back, and I didn’t. With this being our senior year and our last chance to get that medal back in our hands, it was so important to get it. It meant so much, because it’s our last year together, and we wanted it so bad.”

Shetrom wasn’t on the court when the final seconds ticked off after fouling out with 3:47 to play, but her 3-pointer to open the scoring set the tone for the first half.

The Lady Lions made seven of their eight treys in the first half and jumped out to a 20-point lead in the second quarter.

“Our shooting came to life again,” Colledge said. “We had some struggles toward the end of the season. We lost a couple that we shouldn’t have lost, but we finished strong in the last two games. Hopefully the girls will build off that momentum. I don’t know if you want to call it peaking, but if that’s what it is, that’s great.”

Paige Whitfield, Amber Newberry and Caranda Perea each made a pair of 3-pointers.

“(Perea) came in off the bench and hit some big shots for us,” Colledge said. “That was huge for a freshman to make those shots.”

While Altoona was rolling, State College was getting limited to one shot per possession by the rebounding efforts of Lady Lions Alayna Biesecker and Bridgid Fox.

“Alayna is an anchor of our team,” Colledge said. “She’s been battling back from a health issue she had earlier. She’s been out six or eight weeks and isn’t quite there yet, but she made great strides tonight. The tandem of her and Fox inside were a very powerful one-two punch for us getting second-chance opportunities.”

Fox finished with a team-high eight rebounds, and Biesecker had seven points and seven rebounds.

“When you go eight minutes without a field goal, and you combine that with them shooting quite well, you get into a big hole,” State College coach Chris Leazier said.

Though Altoona had landed a blow, it was not a knockout one. Following Perea’s second 3-pointer to put the Lady Lions up 31-11, the Lady Little Lions went on an 11-1 run that carried over into the third quarter. Altoona briefly stretched the lead back to 14 before Lexi Risha’s 3-pointer made it 39-31.

Taylor Love, who finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds for State College, was fouled while shooting with 1:22 left in the third quarter, and Altoona was forced to call a timeout.

“I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game even though we got up early,” Colledge said. “Coach Leazier is doing a magnificent job in his first year. His team battled back, which I thought they would. Taylor Love and Maya Bokunewicz are two great players, and they kept their team in it.”

Colledge urged the girls to shake off their nerves and get back to the gameplan. Love missed both free throws, and Altoona went on a 9-0 run that sealed the win.

“We were pleased to get ourselves back into the game, down eight at the free throw line with a few minutes to play in the third quarter,” Leazier said. “We missed two; they scored. We turned it over, and they scored again. I felt like that was really the game.”

Love managed just one point in the fourth quarter, and State College never got closer than 11 points down.

“Our main plan was to keep (Taylor Love) off the glass,” Fox said. “We executed that really well. We all pitched in to create turnovers by pinching the middle, and I think we did a really good job.”

Whitfield led Altoona with 12 points, and fellow senior Newberry added 10 points.

“They were very eager to come out here and redeem themselves,” Colledge said. “Last year, with Kyla Irwin as a senior, State College was a very difficult team to beat. We knew we had a great chance tonight, but we told them that they had to come out and play strong. We had to rebound and handle the ball well. They put all those things together and did it.”

STATE COLLEGE (42): Hawbaker 2 2-4 6, K. Love 2 0-0 5, Bokunewicz 5 1-3 11, Strauss 0 0-0 0, T. Love 4 3-8 11, Poston 0 0-0 0, Lingenfelter 2 0-0 6, Risha 1 0-0 3, Orndorff 0 0-0 0, Lenze 0 0-0 0, Czekaj 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 6-15 42.

ALTOONA (54): Stevens 0 0-0 0, Whitfield 4 2-3 12, Newberry 3 2-3 10, Lear 1 2-4 4, Shetrom 2 0-0 5, Hudson 2 2-4 7, Fox 1 0-0 2, Biesecker 1 5-6 7, Perea 2 0-0 6, Haralson 0 0-2 0, Schilling 0 1-2 1, Burke 0 0-0 0, Futrell 0 0-0 0, Woomer 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 14-26 54.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

State College 4 12 15 11 — 42

Altoona 11 21 11 11 — 54

3-point goals: State College 4 (Lingenfelter 2, K. Love, Risha); Altoona 8 (Whitfield 2, Newberry 2, Perea 2, Shetrom, Hudson).

Records: State College (10-14); Altoona (15-8).

Officials: Terri Piatak, Vicki Markiewicz, George Figura.

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