Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Hollidaysburg's Sydney Lear leans into Tyrone's Jaida Parker.

By Matt Michelone

For the Mirror

TYRONE — Their first assignment in the Mountain League may have been the defending champion, but the Hollidaysburg Lady Tigers weren’t afraid of their opening test.

“This was a welcome to the Mountain League,” Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said. “We continue to tell our girls that they’re the new girls in the Mountain League. We’ve got to take each game in stride and see what this league is about.”

Powered by a smothering defense, and capitalizing on key opportunities, the Lady Tigers pulled away in the second half as they knocked off Tyrone, 55-43, Tuesday night at the Tyrone Middle School Gymnasium.

“Tyrone is a very tough matchup for us,” Jubeck said. “They’ve got an excellent team, they’re very well coached. They’re going to go far this season, and that’s kudos to them. When we play them again, it’s going to be another tough matchup.”

Both teams struggled to score in the first, but in the second the Lady Tigers forced a couple of key turnovers as Alison Hatajik came up with a layup and Camryn Figard grabbed the put back.

The Lady Eagles kept it close, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Stephanie Ramsey making it 26-21 at the half.

“We just didn’t hit shots tonight,” Tyrone coach Lucas Rhoades said. “They played good defense and executed their game plan very well. We got open looks, they just didn’t fall tonight. They’re a very good team.

“We have to do a better job of getting into position so we don’t foul.”

The Lady Tigers were once again led offensively by the trio of Marin Miller (20 points), Sydney Lear (11), and Hatajik (13).

Hatajik credits senior Marin Miller for some of her success.

“Marin really helped me out tonight,” Hatajik said. “She gives me the confidence to play well, and it helps me a lot throughout the game.”

Hatajik was a key part of the Lady Tiger defensive effort in the third quarter as her take away set up Figard for a bucket with just over three minutes left in the frame.

“Ali’s confidence has soared over this past summer. She and Marin are playing tremendous together; they’ve just gelled and matched each other. That speaks volume on how much time all of this team has put in,” Jubeck said.

The Lady Eagles meanwhile kept it close as Jaida Parker’s turnaround jumper help keep their deficit to seven. Parker finished with 10 points while Kayelin Gibbons led Tyrone with 11.

“We had Hannah DiPangrazio do a really good job on (Parker),” Hatajik said. “We made sure at practice she was doing really good on defense and made sure that she was getting those stops. She did that tonight.”

Hollidaysburg pulled away in the fourth starting with a Miller 3-pointer from NBA range on her way to scoring seven of her points in the quarter. Lear also found her way to the foul line going 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.

“Our objective was to contain all (of Tyrone’s scorers),” Jubeck said. “They’ve got good outside shooting; they’ve got a good inside game. They’ve got (Emma) Getz and (Stephanie) Ramsey, they’ve got Gibbons, and Parker.

“We knew if we could somehow contain one of them, two of them, we had a better chance of possibly win this game.”

Both teams will have road trips on Friday as the Lady Tigers head to Clearfield while Tyrone will look to bounce back against Penns Valley.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (55): Miller 7 2-2 20, Lear 1 9-10 11, Hatajik 4 5-7 13, Figard 3 0-0 6, DiPangrazio 1 0-0 2, Stitt 1 0-0 3, Shoemaker 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 16-19 55.

TYRONE (43): Lewis 3 0-0 6, Ramsey 3 0-0 8, Getz 1 0-1 2, Parker 4 2-4 10, Gibbons 4 2-4 11, Paul 2 0-0 6. Totals: 17 4-9 43.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hollidaysburg 9 17 12 17 – 55

Tyrone 7 14 8 14 – 43

3-point field goals: Hollidaysburg 5 (Miller 4, Stitt), Tyrone 5 (Ramsey 2, Gibbons, Paul 2)

Records: Hollidaysburg (3-0, 1-0 Mountain League), Tyrone (1-1, 0-1 Mountain League).

Officials: Ray Hoppel, Derek Jones, Steven Schaaf

JV: No game.