From Mirror reports

HERSHEY — The Altoona girls basketball team found itself down 19-11 to Middletown Thursday night after one quarter of play in the Mid-Penn Conference championship game at Milton Hershey High School.

No one pushed the panic button, certainly not Altoona coach Chris Fleegle and certainly not his Lady Lions.

“Credit to Middletown. They jumped out to a quick start. With this group, I felt like we didn’t panic, got back to the basics of defending and moving the basketball, and was able to put together a great second quarter,” Fleegle said.

And great it was.

The Lady Lions outscored their opponent, 17-2, in that quarter en route to a 57-38 win for their first-ever MPC title in their second-ever appearance in the conference championship game.

“When you’re playing somebody for the first time, the first quarter often is a feel-out period, and from that point forward, we made the necessary adjustments to be successful,” said Fleegle, whose club improved to 22-2.

Melana Eyer scored 16 of her team-high 19 points in the first half to help Altoona go up 28-21 at the break. She finished the game hitting four of Altoona’s eight 3-pointers.

“Melana had a great first half. She was the spark that we needed,” Fleegle said.

Altoona also got big contributions from Lanie Wilt and Brionna Hudson, who both scored 11 points in a game the Lady Lions led, 46-27, after three quarters.

Another big contribution was turned in by Zaelinh Nguyen-Moore, who scored seven points, but more importantly, according to her coach, covered Middletown’s Jala Koser, and held her to just nine points.

“Zae did a great job on slowing down their big-time player,” Fleegle said.

Emma Cleland led Middletown (22-2) with 20 points.

ALTOONA (57): M. Eyer 7 1-2 19, Nguyen-Moore 1 5-8 7, Hudson 4 3-4 11, Wilt 4 2-4 11, R. Eyer 2 0-0 6, Beltz 0 0-0 0, Harpster 1 0-0 3. Totals — 19 11-18 57.

MIDDLETOWN (38): Cleland 8 1-1 20, Koser 3 2-2 9, Stover 1 0-2 2, Gassert 3 1-2 7, Rossum 0 0-0 0, Cavrich 0 0-0 0. Totals — 15 4-7 38.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 11 17 18 11 — 57

Middletown 19 2 6 11 — 38

3-point goals: Altoona 8 (M. Eyer 4, R. Eyer 2, Wilt, Harpster); Middletown 4 (Cleland 3, Koser).

Records: Altoona (22-2); Middletown (22-2).