Lady Lions get tough defensively

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Altoona's Lanie Wilt cuts between Hollidaysburg's Alana Lightner (left) and Bella Vent.
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Altoona Area girls basketball coach Chris Fleegle thinks his team could have a very special season this year, but the barometer of success always begins by beating your rival.
Thanks to some clutch play down the stretch, check that off the to-do list.
Altoona held Hollidaysburg to one field goal in the final 9:40 of the game to win 57-41 after the Lady Lions led by just two late in the third quarter.
“They are a good team that runs a good offense, but we made their shots difficult and contested them,” Fleegle said. “I thought we did a better job of cleaning up the rebounds. Early on, it was Zae (Nguyen-Moore) and Bri (Hudson) getting all the rebounds. Then the guards got in there and were fighting for the ball. We limited them to one shot, got back in transition and forced them to take contested inside shots.”
Hudson, just a freshman, finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“She held her own on the boards, she’s a mismatch on the offensive end and she’s a great rim protector,” Fleegle said. “Her last play on Lauren (Stevenson) she swatted that ball hard. It’s very nice and allows us to gamble a little more defensively knowing we have a presence that can protect the rim.”
There was already plenty of optimism around the Altoona girls basketball program heading into the season with star seniors Melana Eyer and Lanie Wilt returning along with Nguyen-Moore, but Hudson’s progression has the Lady Lions thinking even bigger.
“We thought that over the summer when we went to the best-of-Maryland tournament and played other state championship teams from other states,” Fleegle said. “We competed and held our own. We have to get through healthy. Last year, our draw wasn’t great, but this year, our draw lines up a lot better. We have to take care of business against State College, but if we get the opportunity to move on, I think these guys can do something very special.”
Eyer scored 13 points, Wilt had 12 points and Nguyen-Moore had 11 points — including a key spurt that ballooned Altoona’s lead from 18-14 to 21-16.
“They weren’t helping off Lanie and Melana,” Fleegle said. “They were sagging on Zae and wanting her to handle the ball and beat them. Well, Zae got a little antsy in the first quarter but in the second quarter she scored five straight points. She doesn’t do that a lot offensively. She has all the tools, but she usually likes to get others involved offensively.”
A couple minutes after showing she could finish at the basket, Nguyen-Moore kicked it out to Eyer for a 3-pointer that made it 34-26.
“I definitely felt disrespected,” Nguyen-Moore said. “I was the only one kind of not being guarded. Sometimes it’s like that. When it came down to it, I was missing some of my shots I should have made. But when I make those big shots, I feel like I get the respect I deserve. It feels good.”
Hollidaysburg got a pair of 3-pointers from Stevenson in the third quarter combined with a layup from Bella Vent with 1:40 to play in the period that made it 36-34, but the Lady Tigers went cold from there.
“I’m not necessarily sure it was our offense today,” Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said. “I would say it was much more our defense and rebounding. Not containing their dribble-penetration and not controlling either side of the boards, offensively or defensively.”
Hollidaysburg’s Makenna Weimert had 13 points and 12 rebounds before she fouled out with 55.4 seconds left, and Clare Padamonsky had eight points and 12 rebounds. Vent added 13 points as the Lady Tigers fell to 18-2, with both losses coming to Altoona.
“It was more us tonight,” Jubeck said. “We had a big game, and we haven’t played big games like this in a while. You have to get mentally prepared differently. We have to get back to the drawing board and fix it.”
Altoona improved to 19-2, and with a season sweep of its rival taken care of, the Lady Lions will now focus on their pursuit of the Mid-Penn Conference, District 6 and state titles.
“Everyone knows we’re cross-town rivals,” Nguyen-Moore said. “It feels good to have some Altoona pride and wear our school on our chest proudly. Honestly, I think we can go really far in states. We have the potential. As long as we stick together as a unit, I think we can go far.”
ALTOONA (57): M. Eyer 5 0-0 13, Nguyen-Moore 4 2-2 11, Hudson 7 3-4 17, Wilt 2 6-8 12, Harpster 1 0-0 2, R. Eyer 1 0-0 2, Cogan 0 0-0 0. Totals — 20 11-14 57.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (41): Heim 0 1-2 1, Stevenson 2 0-0 6, Vent 6 0-1 13, Padamonsky 2 3-6 8, Weimert 5 3-3 13, Sidney 0 0-0 0, Steiner 0 0-0 0, Lightner 0 0-0 0. Totals — 15 7-12 41.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Altoona 16 14 10 17 — 57
Hollidaysburg 7 15 12 7 — 41
3-point goals: Altoona 6 (M. Eyer 3, Wilt 2, Nguyen-Moore); Hollidaysburg 4 (Stevenson 2, Vent, Padamonsky).
Records: Altoona (19-2); Hollidaysburg (18-2).
Officials: Dan Gales, Brad Martz, Ron Williams.
JV: No game.