Huntingdon girls knock off P-O
PHILIPSBURG — The Huntingdon and Philipsburg-Osceola girls basketball teams were among the squads in the middle of the pack of last year’s Mountain League standings.
Both teams came into Tuesday’s game undefeated with the hope that they can rise to the top of the league this year.
Round one went to the Lady Bearcats.
Huntingdon used full-court pressure to build a 20-point halftime lead before holding on in a 53-43 triumph in the conference opener for both teams. Philipsburg-Osceola star guard Halle Herrington scored a game-high 29 points and had four assists but had just five points with a little more than three minutes to play in the first half as the Lady Bearcats led, 30-7.
“We came out and were very aggressive to start,” Huntingdon coach Patrick Cassidy said. “We attacked very well. We have a really good press, and our girls do a really good job moving around with it. It helped us contain Halle a little bit in that first half.”
Cassidy spent most of his game preparation going over ways to contain Herrington, who scored 51 and 35 points in her first two games this season.
“We talked a lot about understanding how she gets her points,” Cassidy said. “She likes to create, and she moves very well without the ball, but she also scores a lot of her points at the free throw line. We just tried to keep her in boxes and off the line.”
Herrington did manage to score seven points in the final 3:08 of the half, including her only 3-pointer of the game, to lead all scorers with 12 points halfway through. In the end, she finished 9-for-32 from the field and 10-for-14 from the foul line.
“We started in a 32 fire, and with that we really get to deny Halle the ball,” Huntingdon junior Corrine Reamer said. “That’s our main focus. Once we shut her down, the rest of the team just kind of falls apart. They all go through her.”
Kynnedy Miller scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the first half, but seven different Huntingdon players scored at least six points. The Lady Bearcats also connected on five first-half 3-pointers to build their lead.
“We were very willing to share the rock,” Cassidy said. “I thought we did a really nice job up until late with just executing.”
Philipsburg-Osceola was able to play its game in the second half and outscored Huntingdon in both the third and fourth quarters.
“Their defensive pressure hurt us, because we don’t go over press very much,” Herrington said. “We just needed to change our mentalities and get back into the game.”
First-year Philipsburg-Osceola coach Robert Sauerwein credited Cassidy.
“I clearly got outcoached,” Sauerwein said. “Coach Cassidy came in with a great gameplan. I didn’t make adjustments early. We made a couple adjustments at halftime, and the girls busted their butts and showed competitiveness in the second half, and that’s what I wanted to see.”
Huntingdon will play Mount Union and Clearfield in its next two games before a major test at Tyrone on Dec. 19.
“Tussey is a great team that had a lot of girls returning,” Cassidy said. “We lost to them right at the end of last season, so our girls had a lot of motivation to come out and play well and win our opener. Obviously, there was a lot of motivation tonight going against a player like Herrington.
“Hopefully we can find that motivation every night, because I think when we play like a team and support each other, we’ll be hard to stop. Our girls are hungry.”
HUNTINGDON (53): Miller 4 2-5 13, A. Troup 2 1-4 6, McElroy 3 0-0 6, Reamer 2 1-2 6, Kurtz 4 0-2 8, DeForrest 3 2-2 8, R. Kyle 1 3-6 6, Querry 0 0-0 0, Sellers 0 0-0 0, L. Troup 0 0-0 0, Lynn 0 0-0 0. Totals — 19 9-21 53.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (43): Herrington 9 10-14 29, C. Hughes 0 0-0 0, Kennedy 4 0-2 8, S. Bainey 1 0-0 2, Bordas 2 0-0 4, S. Hughes 0 0-0 0, James 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 10-16 43.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntingdon 12 22 7 12 — 53
Philipsburg-Osceola 4 10 9 20 — 43
3-point goals: Huntingdon 6 (Miller 3, A. Troup, R. Kyle, Reamer); Philipsburg-Osceola 1 (Herrington).
Records: Huntingdon (2-0, 1-0 in Mountain League); Philipsburg-Osceola (2-1, 0-1 in Mountain League).
Officials: Derek Jones, Steve Schaaf, Ray Hoppel
JV: Huntingdon, 44-10. High scorers–Lexi Troup, H, 18; Sam Hughes, PO, 4.
COMMENTS