Basketball

NBC can’t overcome early struggles

By Nate Ritchey

nritchey@altoonamirror.com

LOYSBURG -- After falling behind by more than 20 points in the third quarter, Northern Bedford utilized a full-court press that allowed it to put together a rally to close within 14 heading into the final quarter against Everett.

Unfortunately, for the Lady Panthers, the deficit that came via a monster run by the Lady Warriors proved to be insurmountable.

NBC ran out of steam in the fourth and ended up suffering a 54-29 setback to Everett on Thursday night in high school girls basketball.

"We really struggled from the get-go in the first half," Northern Bedford coach Jon Ewart said. "We've had one game here (at home) in three weeks and we're in a little bit of a rough point shooting. You get behind to a well-coached, fundamental team -- it's extremely tough to dig out of that hole."

Northern Bedford, now 5-4, never had the lead as Everett got buckets from Kylee Harman, Colledge and Price to take a 6-0 edge right from the start.

The Warriors were up 13-7 after one quarter of play before Cloe Price, who led all scorers with 21 points, made the second of two free throws to make it 14-7 a little over a minute into the second stanza.

NBC would get a pair of free throws from Mariah Hall and then had Leah Swanseen convert an and-1 situation at 5:23 of the second quarter to pull the Panthers to within 14-12.

From that point, the wheels would fall off as the Lady Warriors took control.

The Lady Panthers, despite several good looks inside, couldn't get a shot to fall the rest of the half.

"We were struggling from the floor shooting from the outside for sure," Ewart said. "You get the ball down low and you expect to finish around the paint but we had trouble finishing there too. It's really tough to be effective against the zone if you're not shooting well."

Meanwhile, Everett, now 6-4, made sure to take advantage as it reeled off the final 11 points to take a 25-12 lead at halftime.

Price accounted for six points, while Jade Colledge tossed in five during the stretch.

Things didn't get any better for Northern Bedford coming out of the break as they surrendered a 12-0 spurt to Everett to essentially put the contest away.

"You would think only going six or seven deep that fatigue would play a factor but we've been doing this for a month now and our conditioning is pretty good," Everett coach Keith Moyer said. "Even in foul trouble. That just goes to show you the basketball IQ of some of kids because they understand that if you get that second one then the third one needs to be later in the game."

Morgan Bowser scored inside for the Lady Warriors before Colledge, who finished with 18 points, hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the arch.

Price hit a shot before Kylee Harman canned a pair of free throws from a technical foul on Ewart to complete the run and push the Everett lead to 37-12 with 6:02 showing.

NBC's Lauren Heck made a layup off an inbound play to break the burst and end the Lady Panthers nearly eight-and-a-half minute scoreless drought.

The Heck bucket started a 10-1 run by the Panthers that allowed them to close within 14 (38-24) when Swanseen, who led NBC with 15 points, hit a layup.

"I liked there in the third where we went on a little run. We got after things a little bit more on the defensive end," Ewart said. "That created some points for us there on the offensive end."

A Bowser shot in close got Everett back on the board before Swanseen made two from the foul line to send the contest into the final quarter at 40-26.

Price quickly delivered two jumpers as part of a 7-0 start that pushed the Everett lead back above 20 at 47-26.

"It was pretty scrappy tonight. There was a brief time in the third quarter where we kind of lost our composure when things got very physical," Moyer said. "But after I called timeout, we kind of settled in. We stopped wearing our emotions on our sleeves and played basketball again. We finished strong in the fourth quarter."

EVERETT (54): Colledge 7 1-2 18, Wood 0 0-0 0, Harman 1 2-2 4, Price 8 5-8 21, Bowser 4 2-4 10, Feathers 0 1-2 1, Mills 0 0-0 0, Ritchey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 11-18 54.

NORTHERN BEDFORD (29): McIlnay 0 0-2 0, Yeatts 0 0-0 0, Heck 3 2-3 8, Swanseen 3 8-11 15, M. Hall 1 2-2 4, Baker 0 2-2 2, Love 0 0-0 0, Detterline 0 0-0 0, Helsel 0 0-0 0, Barton 0 0-0 0, Ritchey 0 0-0 0, K. Hall 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7 14-20 29.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Everett 13 12 15 14 -- 54

Northern Bedford 7 5 14 3 -- 29

3-point field goals: Everett 3 (Colledge 3); Northern Bedford 1 (Swanseen).

Records: Everett (6-4); Northern Bedford (5-4).

JV: No game.