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By Ron Musselman
For The Mirror
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Long-time Bellwood-Antis girls basketball assistant coach Kyley Longo made her head coaching debut Wednesday night on the road against her alma mater.
Hollidaysburg ruined her homecoming.
Junior guard Bella Vent scored a game-high 21 points and sophomore post player Clare Padamonsky added 16 points off the bench and the Lady Tigers used a few big runs en route to a 62-40 victory over Longo and the Lady Blue Devils.
It was the first matchup involving two of the area's most successful girls basketball teams in the new-look, 22-team Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference. They are competing in the East Division.
"It was the first game for us and it took a little while to get things together," Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said. "I thought we played pretty well in spots. It wasn't a bad first game."
Vent, who averaged 10.6 points a game last season, scored nine points in the first half and 12 in the second.
B-A pulled to within 36-28 with 3:48 to go in the third quarter on seven consecutive points by junior guard Leigh Clapper, but Hollidaysburg went on a 14-0 run over the next five-plus minutes to close out the game.
Vent and Padamonsky keyed the run with four points each.
"Bella is one of two starters back for us and she did the kind of things we expect her to do," Jubeck said. "And we got some big points from Clare inside, too."
Both newcomers to the LHAC were hurt by turnovers and missed shots.
Hollidaysburg, a Class 5A school, was 49-3 the past two years in the Mountain League, while Bellwood-Antis, playing in Class AA, was 43-13 in the Inter-County Conference.
"We prepared for this game for the last three weeks," Longo said. "I thought we started out OK, and we played well for a while, but then we kind of wore down a little bit.
"Hollidaysburg is a really good team. They are going to win a lot of games this year."
Clapper led the Lady Blue Devils with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Junior guard Jenna Norton had two treys and eight points.
Longo is a 2006 graduate of Hollidaysburg, where she played guard on the basketball team. Jubeck was an assistant coach on that team.
After college, Longo served as an assistant coach under Jim Swaney for 13 years at B-A, and was hired to replace him after he stepped down in May.
Swaney captured a pair of PIAA titles during his tenure and coached Blair County's all-time leading scorer, Alli Campbell, a Notre Dame transfer now playing for Penn State.
Swaney, who logged more than 500 victories in 31 seasons as a coach, was in attendance at Wednesday night's game.
"I always enjoy coming back home," Longo said. "I know a lot of people here. I saw coach Swaney. I saw my ninth grade coach. My parents still live in Hollidaysburg. And coach Jubeck was an assistant coach when I was playing for Hollidaysburg.
"There were a lot of familiar faces, for sure."
Bellwood-Antis hosts Somerset Friday in an LHAC game while Hollidaysburg hosts Chestnut Ridge.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (40): Hammond 1 5-6 7, Clapper 4 2-2 13, Gerwert 2 0-0 4, Norton 2 2-2 8, Quick 1 1-2 3, Cacciotti 1 0-0 3, Waite 1 0-0 2, Bardell 0 0-0 0, Hess 0 0-0 0. Totals - 12 10-12 40.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (62): DiPangrazio 1 0-0 2, Shoemaker 2 5-6 9, Yohn 1 0-0 2, Stevenson 3 2-2 8, Vent 8 3-4 21, Lear 0 0-0 0, Padamonsky 7 0-6 14, Sidney 0 0-0 0, Weimert 3 0-0 6, Steiner 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 25 10-18 62.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellwood-Antis 10 9 9 12 - 40
Hollidaysburg 16 13 19 14 - 62
3-point field goals: Bellwood-Antis 6 (Clapper 3, Norton 2, Cacciotti), Hollidaysburg 2 (Vent 2).
Records: Bellwood-Antis (0-1), Hollidaysburg (1-0).
Officials: Dan Galef, Joe Hanna, Brad Martz.
JV: Hollidaysburg, 41-29. High scorers: Lear H, 17; Hammond, Gummo, Cacciotti, BA, 6 each