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Foul trouble hurts Lady Titans in loss

01/16/19 By Gary M. Baranec Everett's Madison Hicks shoots over Tussey Mountain's Kailee Leonard Wednesday at Everett High School.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

EVERETT — Tussey Mountain forward Sophie Brumbaugh played just 2:39 of the first half Wednesday in an Inter-County Conference South showdown with Everett.

That played right into the Lady Warriors’ hands in a 59-34 triumph in a matchup of teams that entered the game both standing at 7-0 in the conference.

“Tussey isn’t real deep,” Everett coach Keith Moyer said. “Any time you take a starter out of their lineup early in the game, it has an impact on how you play. That was the gameplan going in — to get to the rim. They are so aggressive on defense, so if the game is called like it’s supposed to, those things happen.”

Madison Hicks, who scored a game-high 18 points for Everett, did just that. Hicks drew a foul on Brumbaugh less than a minute into the game, and around a minute after that, Brumbaugh — the tallest player on the court — was on the bench with her second foul.

“We’ve got to be smarter than that,” Tussey Mountain coach Todd Gates said. “We can’t play without her on the floor. We have to have her next to Lexi (Weimert) and Meghan (Molosky). If one of those aren’t out there, we’re in trouble.”

With Brumbaugh out, Everett closed out the first quarter on a 13-3 run, highlighted by six points from Kaitlyn Maxwell. Maxwell, just a junior, scored 15 points one game after reaching the 1,000-point career milestone in a victory over Forbes Road. She became just the 15th Lady Warrior to score 1,000 points.

“She’s a good player,” Moyer said. “The nice thing about her reaching 1,000 is that she gets it out of our offense. We don’t feature her. We run a lot of motion, and she’s good enough to get points on her own.”

Maxwell was also the primary defender on Weimert, Tussey Mountain’s leading scorer. The junior guard was held scoreless in the first half before piling up 17 points in the final two quarters.

Brumbaugh returned to start the second quarter but almost immediately picked up her third foul and sat for the rest of the half.

“That was the turning point of the game, definitely,” Maxwell said. “Their team is a completely different team with her out of the game.”

Tussey Mountain really struggled offensively without her and turned the ball over 14 times in the first half alone.

“They can’t completely help off and double up on Lexi when (Brumbaugh) is out there,” Gates said. “It puts another scoring threat out there. We just weren’t ready to play, and they were ready to play.”

The game was much more even in the second half when Brumbaugh played throughout. With most of the starters playing the entire half, Everett outscored Tussey Mountain, 28-27.

“This feels good,” Maxwell said. “It was a good team effort. I think our defense in the first half spurred us on and kept momentum on our side.”

Brooke Colledge also reached double figures for the Lady Warriors with 13 points. Weimert (17) and Molosky (eight) scored all their points in the second half.

“Weimert is hard to guard no matter who is on the floor,” Moyer said. “We couldn’t stop her in the second half tonight. I think Kaitlyn got a little tired at the end and didn’t get out as far on her, but through three quarters we did a great job. Maxwell stayed in front of her for the majority of the game.”

TUSSEY MOUNTAIN (34): Weimert 4 4-4 17, Brumbaugh 1 0-0 2, Leonard 0 0-0 0, Garner 2 0-0 5, Molosky 3 1-2 8, Park 1 0-0 2. Totals — 11 5-6 34.

EVERETT (59): Jay 1 2-2 4, Colledge 5 0-0 13, Ewing 2 0-0 5, M. Hicks 6 6-10 18, Maxwell 6 2-3 15, Iseminger 0 1-2 1, Bulger 1 0-0 2, Nave 0 0-0 0, A. Hicks 0 0-0 0, Treece 0 1-3 1, Mills 0 0-0 0. Totals — 21 12-20 59.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tussey Mountain 3 4 12 15 — 34

Everett 14 17 15 13 — 59

3-point goals: Tussey Mountain 4 (Weimert 3, Garner); Everett 5 (Colledge 3, Ewing, Maxwell).

Records: Tussey Mountain (8-4); Everett (12-2).

Officials: Larry Stitt, Dave Adams, Tim Hite

JV: Everett, 39-23. High scorers–Haylie Taylor, TM, 11; Annie Nave, E, 14.

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