Basketball

Central Pa. shoots its ways past Blair County

By Andy Stine

astine@altoonamirror.com

Central PA coach John Hahn said his team all seemed to know each other pretty well, despite only getting one practice together earlier this week for the Altoona Mirror Classic.

That one practice turned into an all-hands-on-deck effort for Hahn's team as Central PA defeated Blair County, 77-64, in the girls half of the annual all-star game.

Central PA now holds an 11-6 all-time lead on the girls side, including a three-game winning streak.

"We just played well," said Hahn, who is the coach at Bishop McCort. "I thought we could beat them down the floor. They're bigger than us, but we got out and ran and played excellent defense. I told them there's no such thing as a bad shot, so if you get a look, put it up.

"I've been watching these for about 12 years. It's such an honor to come down here. When (Altoona Mirror managing editor) Neil (Rudel) called me, I was shocked. This was just great."

Central PA had its share of players that could have received the honor, but in the end it was Forest Hills' Arissa Britt that took her team's most valuable player. Britt led Central PA with 10 points, and also pulled down five rebounds and tallied two assists.

"I'm so thankful I got this opportunity to play basketball one more time," Britt said. "Especially with girls I played against the last couple years.

"I got to know the girls around me in practice. It definitely helped create and make plays."

Altoona's Jaiden Krull took MVP honors for Blair County after exploding for 21 points and eight rebounds, despite missing a short amount of time in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

"I've known Jaiden for some time," said Blair County coach Amy Hileman of Williamsburg. "She played with Ayla (Hileman, Amy's daughter) in AAU ball. She's such a competitor. You can never count Jaiden out. She even rolled her ankle, and she was right back out playing. She is a tough player."

"I wasn't expecting that at all," Krull said. "I didn't know it was an award. It feels really good. It feels like my hard work paid off."

Although Britt only scored 10 points to lead Central PA, there were four more of her teammates right behind her with nine points in Bishop McCort's Gianna Gallucci, Portage's Jenna Burkett, Northern Bedford's Mariah Hall, and Penn Cambria's Izzy Andersen.

Central PA led 22-16 after the first quarter, but Central PA had the lead stretched to as many as 13 points in the middle of the second quarter. A couple of Britt layups to go with a 3-pointer from her school teammate Alexis Henderson. Windber's Mariah Andrews also had a bucket to make it 36-23 at the midway point of the quarter.

Still, Blair County held it together to put it at 10 points at halftime.

Central PA had 10 3-pointers in the game, including seven in the first half. Hall and Andersen splashed three from long distance, while Burkett had two.

"I can't say enough about Jenna Burkett," Hahn said. "What a team leader. On the floor she's always talking. Everybody is in the right position."

"And then I got my (Gallucci). I know where she's always going to be. I don't know where I'm going to find another one like her because 1,500 points is a lot of points. She's been a great player for four years."

Despite Central PA building the lead to 15 at one point at 57-42, Blair County pulled to within eight points after the third quarter at 59-51. Ayla Hileman generated the run by going 4-for-4 from the foul line, while splashing the second of her two three-pointers for the evening.

Central PA pulled away in the last period thanks to six points from Everett's Cloe Price, and a three-ball by Andersen.

"They were nailing threes in the first half," Coach Hileman said. "They weren't as high percentage in the second half, but the damage was kind of done. We made a run there in the second half, so I was proud of the girls."

"We didn't even have all 12 of our girls with us in practice," Britt said. "All 10 of us that were there, we got the work in. I played with or against a lot of them. I thought we jelled great together."

To go with Krull's 21 points, Ayla Hileman added 12 points and five rebounds. Williamsburg's Laney Prough added eight boards.

"I liked playing with a bunch of people I've never played with before, getting to know their games and how they play."

"Knowing that there's only a few in Blair County, it feels very good."

CENTRAL PA (77): Britt 5 0-0 10, Bednarski 0 4-4 4, Henderson 2 2-2 7, Gallucci 3 2-4 9, Burkett 3 1-2 9, Hall 3 0-0 9, Lauer 0 0-0 0, Price 3 1-2 7, Andersen 3 0-4 9, Andrews 3 0-2 6, Laughard 0 0-0 0, Hopsicker 3 1-2 7. Totals--28 11-22 77.

BLAIR COUNTY (64): Hileman 3 4-4 12, Prough 2 0-0 4, Hammond 0 4-6 4, Yohn 2 1-4 5, Krull 9 3-5 21, Geishauser 1 0-0 2, DiPangrazio 1 0-0 2, Diehl 2 2-2 6, Quick 1 0-0 3, Shoemaker 1 0-0 2, Ellis 1 1-2 3. Totals--23 15-23 64.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central PA 22 22 15 18--77

Blair County 16 18 17 13--64

3-point goals: Central PA 10 (Henderson, Gallucci, Burkett 2, Hall 3, Andersen 3); Blair County 3 (Hileman 2, Quick).

Officials: Clark Adelman, Fred Buck, Chris Wolter