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Lady Tigers bounce back with strong team effort

HOLLIDAYSBURG — It may not have been a playoff game Saturday afternoon at the Hollidaysburg Area High School Gymnasium, but the Lady Tigers and Mercyhurst Prep got quite a test as the calendar flipped to February.

Neither side led by more than 10 points at any time, but in the end it was Hollidaysburg bouncing back from a tough loss on Thursday night as it edged the Lady Lakers, 55-50.

“Everything that seems to hit them, they seem to bounce back,” Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said. “They’re a very resilient bunch, and today it showed out on the court.

“We got very good minutes from every kid that stepped out there.”

In the first quarter, it was the Lady Tigers getting the early advantage as Marin Miller hitting two free throws to score two of her game-high 17 points.

Sydney Lear later followed up with a bank shot to tie the game at 12 following the opening stanza. She finished the day with 10.

It took a little over three minutes into the second quarter before an Emily Thompson jumper around the 4:40 mark opened up a back-and-forth back end of the frame.

That was later answered on a Miller layup and then followed up by another from Lear to give the Tigers a 25-23 lead at the intermission.

“They were quick, they could attack the basket,” Mercyhurst Prep coach Dan Perfetto said of the Tigers guard play. “They had a couple of young kids that hit some big shots. Her kids stepped up. It was a really good high school game in early February before the playoffs. That’s all you can ask for.”

In the third quarter, it appeared the Lady Lakers were going to pull away for a moment as a 3-pointer from Rebecca Habursky and buckets by Kaitlyn Pasko and Miranda Bly made up a 7-0 run to start the frame.

But Hollidaysburg answered right back, starting with a score by Ashden Stitt. A buzzer beater on a turnaround jumper made it 37-30 after three quarters.

In the fourth, Hollidaysburg got even more big shots from the bench as Hannah Merriman added a bucket and Stitt chipped in with her three-pointer before Mercyhurst spent much of the quarter sending the Lady Tigers to the free-throw line.

That’s against a Lady Laker team that was giving up nearly 40 points a game on average, defensively.

“They throw a lot at you,” Jubeck said. “They throw you a zone, they throw you a man, they run and jump at you. We had to prepare for a lot, but we have a tough stretch right now.”

That stretch is only about to get more demanding as they will make the trip across town for the second and final match up against Altoona, a team who they fell to the first time around 53-39 at home.

MERCYHURST PREP (50): Bly 3 7-11 13, Pasko 7 1-2 16, Thompson 3 2-2 8, Habursky 1 2-4 6, Bailey 1 0-0 3, Lang 1 2-4 4, Hulick 0 0-0 0, Ferrick 0 0-0 0. Totals–17 13-20 50.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (55): O’Neill 3 1-2 7, Miller 3 12-18 17, Bell 1 2-3 4, Hatajik 1 2-4 4, S. Lear 4 1-2 10, H. Merriman 1 2-2 4, Stitt 2 3-4 9. Totals–15 23-35 55.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mercyhurst Prep 12 11 7 20 — 50

Hollidaysburg 12 13 12 18 — 55

3-point goals: Mercyhurst Prep 3 (Pasko, Habursky, Bailey); Hollidaysburg 2 (S. Lear, Stitt)

Records: Mercyhurst Prep (15-4); Hollidaysburg (13-5)

JV: Mercyhurst Prep, 35-20. High scorers: Jocelyn Ollinger, M, 13; Ashden Stitt, H, 15.

Referees: Jack McDougal, Clark Adelman, Andy Burkell.

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