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Lady Tigers roar in blowout

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Hollidaysburg girls basketball team got back on track in a big way Tuesday night.

After losing three of their previous four games, the Lady Tigers received solid contributions from their trio of seniors and netted some hot first-half shooting from junior Allison Hileman to stymie visiting Bellefonte, 50-23, in a non-conference matchup on senior night at the Hollidaysburg Area High School gym.

“We wanted to get back in the W column and now we just have to keep it going from here,” said senior Hannah Snyder, who scored 10 points and was one of three seniors honored in a pre-game ceremony.”

Senior forward Janessa Goins scored six points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while fellow classmate Sierra McClain chipped in five points and six rebounds to help the Lady Tigers improve their record to 10-6.

“All three of them — Janessa, Hannah and Sierra — really bought into getting the rest of this team into the team concept,” said Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck, whose team suffered setbacks to Solanco, State College and Punxsutawney over the past few weeks. “When you have a core set of seniors who are leaders, it makes a world of difference in your entire program.”

Hollidaysburg didn’t waste any time getting into a scoring groove in this one. The Lady Tigers scored the first eight points of the game — a pair of free throws from Snyder followed by 3-pointers from Goins and Hileman — that forced Bellefonte to call an early timeout at the 4:19 mark of the opening quarter.

Junior guard Mallorie Smith’s layup out of the timeout put Bellefonte on the scoreboard (8-2), but Hollidaysburg’s Hileman drilled a corner 3-pointer and then converted a layup on an assist from McClain to push the lead to 13-2 with 3:02 left in the opening quarter.

Hileman kept the hot hand in the second quarter, knocking down two more 3-pointers, to help the Lady Tigers stretch their lead to 27-11 at halftime. Hileman had four 3-pointers and scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the first half. As a team, Hollidaysburg canned seven of its nine 3-pointers before halftime.

“They’re a great shooting team,” said Bellefonte head coach Adam Gearhart, whose team fell to 6-11. “If you don’t chase them off the 3-point line, they’re going to knock them down, and that’s what they did early. Hileman had four of them in the first half alone. She was able to find her spot and knock them down.”

Hollidaysburg kept rolling to start the third quarter. With just over 30 seconds off the clock, Snyder was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank all three free throws to push the lead to 30-11. The Lady Tigers outscored Bellefonte, 11-5, to close out the third and take a 41-16 advantage.

Both Hollidaysburg and Bellefonte are Class AAAAA teams, so there’s a chance they could see each other again in the upcoming District 6 playoffs.

“This is a team we may face come playoff time,” Jubeck said, “and we came out and we played well.”

Bellefonte, who started one junior and four sophomores against the Lady Tigers, was without the services of junior Maddie Steiner. She has been a starter since her freshman season. Steiner has been battling tendonitis in one of her knees. Maddie Tice hit three 3-pointers and led the Lady Red Raiders with 13 points. Sara DeHaas had a team-high eight rebounds.

Hollidaysburg’s home game against Mars on Thursday has been postponed until Friday, February 8, at 7:15 p.m. The Lady Tigers’ next game will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at Mount Aloysius College against Portage. Hollidaysburg senior manager Ellie Sipes was also honored before the game.

BELLEFONTE (23): Smith 3 1-3 7, Johnson 0 1-2 1, Tice 4 0-0 11, Corman 2 0-0 4, DeHaas 0 0-0 0, Kerr 0 0-0 0, Gardner 0 0-0 0, Louck 0 0-0 0, Neff 0 0-0 0, Knauff 0 0-0 0. Totals – 9 2-5 23.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (50): Goins 2 1-2 6, McClain 2 0-0 5, Snyder 2 5-5 10, Bell 1 1-2 3, Smith 1 0-0 2, O’Neill 2 0-0 6, Miller 1 0-0 2, Merriman 0 0-0 0, Sipes 0 0-0 0, Parks 0 0-0 0. Totals – 17 7-9 50.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bellefonte 4 7 5 7 – 23

Hollidaysburg 13 14 14 9 – 50

3-point goals – Bellefonte 3 (Tice 3); Hollidaysburg 9 (Goins, McClain, Snyder, Hileman 4, O’Neil 2).

Records: Bellefonte (6-11); Hollidaysburg (10-6).

Officials: Matt Dry, Skip Dry, Sean Albright.

JV: Hollidaysburg, 56-35. High scorers: Marin Miller, H, 18; Taylor Kerr, B, 12.

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