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Lady Lions rally, but fall to unbeaten Crushers

JOHNSTOWN – A furious fourth-quarter rally by the Altoona Lady Lions came up just short on Saturday afternoon as Bishop McCort held on in the final seconds to remain unbeaten in a 52-50 thriller.

The Lady Crushers (15-0) were up by 13 after three quarters, but the Lady Lions (8-6) proceeded to get hot from long range and also capitalized on McCort’s inability to hit free throws down the stretch in order to get back in the game. Altoona hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, while the Lady Crushers went just 5-for-15 from the line.

McCort held a 48-40 edge with 1:39 left, but the Lions’ Sarah Donley hit two free throws and Amber Newberry then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and converted a conventional three-point play to cut the deficit to three in only 26 seconds.

The Crushers’ Haley Thomas and Tahlyn Miller subsequently made 3-of-4 at the line before the Lions’ Maddie Shetrom scored to make it 51-47 with 27 seconds to play. After Miller missed a pair of free throws, Newberry nailed a 3-pointer to pull Altoona within one with 5.4 seconds remaining.

McCort’s Machala Gibbons then made the second of two free throws to put the Crushers up 52-50, and after the Lions nearly lost the ball at midcourt, Altoona had one final chance on a sideline inbounds play with 1.9 seconds on the clock. Donley got off a potential tying shot from the right baseline, but it drew iron at the buzzer.

“Our team was resilient,” said Altoona coach Miriam Colledge, whose squad saw a five-game winning streak end. “We got behind but didn’t quit and showed a lot of character.

“McCort is a quality team, and we didn’t play our best defensive game, especially in the first half.”

Newberry finished with 19 to lead the Lady Lions, while teammate Paige Whitfield added 15.

Bishop McCort coach John Hahn felt that the Class AAAA Lady Lions would provide a stiff challenge to his club, currently ranked third in the state in Class AA.

“That’s a very good team over there, and it was a good win for us,” Hahn said. “This was the type of game that really helps prepare you for the playoffs. Even when we were up going into the fourth, I knew they had one more run in them. This is the first team we played that runs the floor as well as us.”

Thomas scored a game-high 25 for the Crushers and was an all-around contributor with seven rebounds, six assists and several key plays on the defensive side.

“Haley is a total team leader,” Hahn said.

An early 13-2 Lady Lions run capped off by Donley’s 3-pointer gave Altoona a seven-point edge with a little more than 2 minutes left in the first quarter, but McCort eventually pulled within 13-12 heading into the second on back-to-back Thomas buckets.

The Crushers then outscored the Lady Lions 10-2 to take their biggest lead of the half at 22-15 on a Thomas 3-pointer, and after McCort held a seven-point advantage at the break, the Crushers expanded that edge in the third.

A run of nine unanswered Crusher points climaxed by Aunna Yingling’s jumper made it 41-27 with 2 minutes left in the quarter, and after free throws by Whitfield and Newberry, McCort’s Carly Hajjar beat the buzzer with a 15-footer to put the Crushers ahead 43-30 heading into the dramatic fourth period.

“If we could have made some free throws, this wouldn’t have been quite as exciting,” said Hahn. “We are normally a much better foul shooting team, but this shows that nothing is automatic.”

Altoona (50): Whitfield 5 2-2 15, Newberry 6 4-5 19, Shetrom 2 2-4 6, Donley 1 2-2 5, Stouffer 0 0-0 0, Kreuz 1 0-2 3, Lear 1 0-0 2, Stevens 0 0-0 0, Hallinan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 10-15 50.

Bishop McCort (52): Gibbons 1 1-2 3, Thomas 10 3-4 25, Hajjar 3 2-4 8, Miller 1 4-13 6, Instone 3 0-0 6, Yingling 2 0-1 4. Totals: 20 10-24 52.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona13 7 10 20 – 50

Bishop McCort12 15 16 9 – 52

3-point field goals: Altoona 8 (Newberry 3, Whitfield 3, Donley, Kreuz); Bishop McCort 2 (Thomas 2).

Records: Altoona (8-6), Bishop McCort (15-0).

Officials: Corey Stahl, Rick Martin, Tony Rullo.

JV: Altoona, 32-18 High scorers-Brumbaugh, Schilling, Burke, A, 6 each; Wilson, BM, 6.

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