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Lady Lions continue hot start

Six games in eight days to open the season left the Altoona girls basketball team a little weary, but the Lady Lions can rest well after ending the busy stretch with wins in five of those games.

After winning two of three in a tournament at North Allegheny and taking two straight to win the Jaffa Shrine Tournament, the team opened its home schedule with a 43-28 victory over Cumberland Valley Saturday afternoon at the AAHS Fieldhouse.

“We’re pretty tired, but we feel great,” junior forward Bridgid Fox said. “All the hard work is paying off. We’re excited to see what the rest of the season brings.”

The 5-1 start is the team’s best since the 2011-12 season, when the Lady Lions won 13 straight to start the season.

Knocking down an average of seven 3-pointers through five games, the trey has been a major weapon for Altoona, but the Lady Lions were off target Saturday, making just 1-of-12 from beyond the arc.

“There wasn’t a lot going on from the 3-point line. You’re going to have games like that, and we had to find other ways to win. We relied on our defense and layups,” Altoona coach Miriam Colledge said.

Olivia Hudson to the hole was the a major portion of the Altoona offense. The 5-foot-10 junior scored seven baskets going to the rim on her way to a game-high 17 points.

Caranda Perea added nine points, and Fox scored six. Fox also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

“Our main priority is to just rebound and run because our transition game works well,” Fox said. “Liv’s great at finishing around the rim, but we try to work the ball around as well.”

The Lady Lion defense surrendered just 16 points through three quarters before giving up 12 in the fourth quarter when Cumberland Valley was trying to dig out of a double-digit hole.

“We didn’t shoot well, but that probably had a lot of do with Altoona’s defense, their length and not being able to get good looks,” CV coach William Wolf said. “We did a good job of controlling the tempo of the game, but it was an uphill battle. They’re a very talented team.”

Leading 16-10 after a lackluster first half, the Lady Lions came out of the locker room energized and went on a 9-2 run the first 2:35 of the second half.

Hudson got the first four points with a driving layup followed by a pair of free throws. Perea knocked down Altoona’s only 3 of the game, and Fox scored on a layup off a feed from Shaina Lear.

By the end of the third quarter, Altoona had doubled up the Lady Eagles, 32-16.

CV pulled to within eight points midway through the fourth before Hudson scored on the break, and Perea got back-to-back buckets in transition to put the game away.

“We had a little pep talk (at halftime), and they responded. We went backwards a little again, but they responded again,” Colledge said. “The bottom line was we weren’t playing our best and needed to find a way to break out of that. In the end, we did enough to win.”

The Lady Lions don’t play again until Friday when they visit Johnstown.

CUMBERLAND VALLEY (28): Hinish 1 2-2 4, Miller 1 1-4 3, Sauve 0 0-2 0, Murphy 1 0-0 2, Kuffa 6 0-0 13, Leitzel 1 0-0 2, Jekot 2 0-0 4. Totals — 12 3-8 28.

ALTOONA (43): Lear 1 0-0 2, Stevens 1 2-2 4, Hudson 7 3-6 17, Perea 4 0-0 9, Fox 3 0-0 6, Burke 2 1-3 5. Totals — 18 6-11 43.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cumberland Valley 6 4 6 12 — 28

Altoona 10 6 16 11 — 43

3-point goals: Cumberland Valley 1 (Kuffa); Altoona 1 (Perea).

Records: Cumberland Valley (2-3); Altoona (5-1).

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