Basketball

Foul-line blues are costly for Lions in loss

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

Altoona's girls basketball team has won some ugly, low-scoring games this season.

But Monday at the AAHS Fieldhouse, perhaps the ugliest of the season didn't go the Lady Lions' way. Altoona and Central Dauphin combined to shoot 2-for-20 from the foul line with both teams going 1-for-10, and the Lady Lions weren't much better from point-blank range, missing on several opportunities in the paint, in a 38-33 loss.

"Both of us being terrible from the free-throw line," Altoona coach Chris Fleegle said. "I have not seen anything like that. It's mind boggling to me."

It was the first loss for Altoona within the Mid-Penn Conference this season and dropped the Lady Lions into a tie with Central Dauphin in the race for first place. The Lady Rams' only loss in conference was to Altoona, 46-35, on Dec. 19.

"If we both win out, it goes to head-to-head, which we split," Fleegle said. "Then it goes to the District 3 point system, and honestly I have no idea how that's going to work."

Central Dauphin missed its first 10 attempts from the free-throw line before Alexis Ferguson made one with 13.7 seconds left in the game to set the final score. Altoona missed all five of its free throw attempts in the second half, which stifled its comeback attempt from a 23-15 halftime deficit.

"This year has been our best free-throw shooting year in the past few years, but tonight neither team shot them well," Central Dauphin coach Randy Gambelunghe said. "Chris will probably tell you their free throw shooting cost them, and ours cost us too."

The Lady Rams maintained their lead throughout the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter thanks to a strong effort by Olivia Green, who finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

"Liv is a sophomore and leads the area in rebounding," Gambelunghe said. "I told the team (Altoona senior) Jaiden Krull is the type of player that wants the ball more than you, but Liv is that type of player too. It's such a battle because they both want the basketball more than anyone else on the court, and I appreciate how hard both play."

Green put Central Dauphin ahead by seven on a basket to start the final quarter, but Altoona reeled off seven straight points to tie the game on back-to-back layups by Lanie Wilt and a 3-pointer from Melana Eyer with 3:06 remaining. Wilt led the Lady Lions with 15 points.

Eyer's 3-pointer was just the second -- and final -- of the game for Altoona.

"We didn't do a good job containing Wilt early and didn't contain them enough," Gambelunghe said. "Their guards are so good. Eyer and Wilt get to the basket at will most of the time, and our defense did a much better job of keeping them in front and challenging 3-pointers, which is what they do so well. They had an off night shooting. When they shoot well, they don't lose. They are that good."

Leah McGarvey answered Eyer's trey with a mid-range jump shot to put Central Dauphin back ahead, and Altoona never scored again, going 0-for-4 from the line in the final 2:12.

"Maybe it's a concentration thing, because some of them were pretty open looks," Fleegle said. "I get the ones where you're getting hit, and it went both ways, but it's a concentration thing for us. We were missing layups off the backboard, and they were making 2-foot shots from the middle of the paint, which are supposed to be more difficult shots."

Altoona has Mid-Penn games left against Carlisle and Chambersburg, and Central Dauphin still has to play State College and Cumberland Valley.

"At the end of the day, you ask yourself if you played hard and competed," Fleegle said. "That's something the coaching staff can't teach you to do. You have to have it inside of you. We competed. The skill part, the free throws and the finishing around the rim are things we can improve on. You never want to lose a playoff-type atmosphere like this, but I'd much rather do it now than Feb. 24."

CENTRAL DAUPHIN (38): Cavoli 2 0-0 4, Ferguson 5 1-6 12, Fletcher 3 0-0 6, McGarvey 2 0-0 4, Green 6 0-0 12, Sembrot 0 0-0 0, Matthews 0 0-2 0. Totals -- 18 1-10 38.

ALTOONA (33): M. Eyer 3 0-2 7, Nguyen-Moore 2 0-2 4, Wilt 7 1-5 15, Harpster 1 0-0 3, Krull 2 0-1 4, R. Eyer 0 0-0 0, Cogan 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 15 1-10 33.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Dauphin 8 15 8 7 -- 38

Altoona 8 7 11 7 -- 33

3-point goals: Central Dauphin 1 (Ferguson); Altoona 2 (Harpster, M. Eyer).

Records: Central Dauphin (15-2, 10-1 in Mid-Penn); Altoona (14-4, 10-1 in Mid-Penn).

Officials: Bill Musser, Tracy Cornelius, Klayton Heffner.

JV: Central Dauphin, 28-23. High scorers--Jazzy Zakhar, CD, 15; Raylin Eyer, A, 6.