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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
ALEXANDRIA -- Juniata Valley's girls basketball team has struggled with slow starts and early turnovers this season, but Tuesday night the Lady Hornets flipped the script on visiting Northern Bedford.
Led by Maddie Hopsicker's defensive effort and Anna Taylor's offensive outburst, Juniata Valley picked up its best win of the season, 64-37, over the Lady Panthers, who will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming District 5 Class 1A playoffs and finished the regular season 14-8.
"I think this is the best we have played, and it was everyone on the roster," Juniata Valley coach Elizabeth Radabaugh said. "Everyone came out ready to play, and we got off to a quick start. That has been the struggle for us this season. We haven't started a lot of games playing clean without making turnovers. We took good care of the ball and played with intensity."
Juniata Valley scored the first 15 points of the game, forced eight turnovers in the first quarter and 15 in the first half.
"We had a terrible start," Northern Bedford coach Jon Ewart said. "We came out and didn't really do much. I'll credit their defense. They pretty much took us out of anything we wanted to do offensively. They did a nice job having their hands in our passing lanes, and we really couldn't function."
The Lady Hornets deployed a zone defense, fronted by Hopsicker, that stifled Northern Bedford. Mariah Hall, who scored her 1,000th career point last week, was held to two points in the first half and eight for the game.
"It did seem like they were unprepared for the one-three-one and really unprepared for Maddie's quickness out front," Radabaugh said. "They had to work really hard to even get it past her, so I think that got everything started defensively for us."
Hopsicker had several steals that led to immediate baskets, 12 points and six rebounds -- a couple of which led to assists on kickouts to Taylor, who made seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 35 points.
"We had a stretch where we weren't playing a lot and didn't have many games," said Taylor, who also had a game-high 11 rebounds. "I think coming into this game, we had a fire under our butt and wanted to come out with the win."
Taylor had 20 points by halftime and drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second half that put Juniata Valley ahead, 40-17.
Kassidy Watson's layup with 1:55 left in the third quarter put the Lady Hornets ahead by 31 and started a running clock. Watson, a junior, just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
"That has been exciting to watch," Radabaugh said. "At the beginning of the season, we had Anna and Maddie as returning letterwinners. I remember saying it's going to be about who stepped up to fill the shoes of the last graduating class. Kassidy has definitely done that. I think it has been more of a confidence thing than anything else. She has the skill and the strength, she just needed the push to go for it and really be physical down in the post."
Juniata Valley still has two regular season home games against Bedford and Homer-Center before starting the District 6 Class 1A playoffs next week.
Northern Bedford got a team-high 11 points from senior Leah Swanseen. The Lady Panthers will host a District 5 Class 1A semifinal game on Feb. 28 and hope to be playing for a district title on Saturday, March 2.
"We have to shake this off, because if not, our next game could be our last one," Ewart said. "We're in a good spot, and I guess we're kind of lucky we got this type of game out of the way before the playoffs started. There's nowhere to go but up after this performance."
NORTHERN BEDFORD (37): Hall 3 0-0 8, Swanseen 4 2-2 11, McIlnay 1 0-0 3, Heck 0 0-0 0, Yeatts 1 0-0 3, Love 1 0-0 2, Baker 2 1-2 6, Detterline 2 0-0 4, Helsel 0 0-0 0, Barton 0 0-0 0, Gable 0 0-0 0, Ritchey 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 14 3-4 37.
JUNIATA VALLEY (64): Hopsicker 4 4-6 12, Foster 0 0-0 0, Russell 2 0-0 5, Taylor 13 2-2 35, Watson 2 5-10 9, Sunderland 1 0-0 3, Harman 0 0-0 0, Mowrer 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 22 11-18 64.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Northern Bedford 6 9 8 14 -- 37
Juniata Valley 17 17 20 10 -- 64
3-point goals: Northern Bedford 6 (Hall 2, Swanseen, McIlnay, Yeatts, Baker); Juniata Valley 9 (Taylor 7, Russell, Sunderland).
Records: Northern Bedford (14-8); Juniata Valley (8-12).
Officials: Billy Pfeffer, Joe Bilka, Dave Heim
JV: No game.