Basketball

Lady Lions’ rout assures more favorable path

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Whether they had won or lost their District 6-8-10 subregional playoff game Saturday afternoon, both the Altoona and Erie High School girls basketball teams were guaranteed to play at least one game in the PIAA Class 6A state tournament, which begins this Friday.

That didn't mean that Saturday's subregional contest wasn't very important for this week's PIAA tournament seeding, however.

Altoona earned a PIAA first-round home game at 7:30 p.m. this Friday night at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse against WPIAL fourth-place finisher Chartiers Valley by defeating Erie, 48-18, at the Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School gymnasium.

Altoona will play a first-round PIAA home game for the second straight season, and that sits very well with Lady Lions senior Jaiden Krull, who scored a game-high 18 points and gathered in 10 rebounds in Saturday's game.

"It was very important to win today, because I really wanted to have a guaranteed home game one more time for my senior year,'' Krull said.

Altoona coach Chris Fleegle concurred.

"Today's game was important,'' Fleegle said. "We have a great senior class, and it's nice to get an additional home game. We were fortunate enough to get one last year, and we'll get another one this year.''

Behind Krull's eight points and five from junior Melana Eyer, District 6 champion Altoona (20-4) got out of the gates quickly Saturday, building an 18-4 lead after one quarter against District 10 champion Erie (18-7).

Altoona - which also got 12 points in the game from Eyer -- put together a 14-2 run after opening the game with a 4-2 lead on field goals by Eyer and Krull.

During the big run, Krull and sophomore Zaelin Nguyen-Moore both scored from inside off inbounds passes from teammates, Eyer fired in a 3-pointer from the top of the circle, Krull cashed in a layup, sophomore Samantha Harpster drained another 3-pointer from the top of the circle, and Krull hit two free throws.

"We were sharing the ball well, and we were playing fast, which forced them to speed up their game,'' Krull said of Altoona's big first-quarter start.

Erie -- which will visit WPIAL runner-up North Allegheny in a PIAA first-round game Friday night-- fought back in the second quarter, splitting the Altoona lead in half before the teams went into intermission with the Lady Lions holding a 22-13 advantage.

"Altoona is a physical team that is very well-connected and plays extremely hard,'' Erie coach Lance Brown said. "The girls on that team have been playing together for a long time, and most of the girls on our team have not.

"Altoona pushed the ball well in transition in the first quarter, and we just didn't get off the bus today,'' Brown said of his team's slow start. "We fought back in the second quarter, but we couldn't maintain (the comeback).''

Indeed, Altoona -- which also got 10 rebounds from Moore -- controlled the entire second half, outscoring Erie, 26-5, during the final 16 minutes of the game.

Altoona opened the third quarter with a 9-3 run en route to rolling to a 33-16 lead after three periods.

Eyer's nifty reverse layup and 3-ball from the right corner, sandwiched around Krull's putback, comprised most of the surge, and the effort that Altoona showed all afternoon was highlighted by Moore's diving steal of a loose ball at midcourt that wound up with Moore feeding junior guard Lainey Wilt for a layup.

"We had a couple of good days of practice, and we were ready to get out and play today,'' Fleegle said. "I thought our effort was very good, exemplified by Jaiden's work on offensive rebounds and the steal by Zaelin.

"That kind of effort is going to really help us when we're involved in close games,'' Fleegle added.

No Erie player reached double figures, as senior forward Arianah Leap scored six points for the Royals, and tied Krull and Moore with rebounding honors by grabbing 10.

After starting its season with a 2-3 record and a road loss to archrival Hollidaysburg in December, Altoona has been one of the best teams in the area since, winning 18 of its last 19 games.

"This group is always mentally prepared,'' Fleegle said. "After our early loss at Hollidaysburg, we've had only one more loss since December. The players have all bought in to what we're trying to do, and they're playing really good basketball.''

ERIE (18): D. Neavins 2 0-0 4, A. Neavins 1 0-0 2, Reap 3 0-0 6, Williams 2 1-2 6, Green 0 0-0 0, Renwick 0 0-2 0, Vega 0 0-0 0. Totals - 8 1-2 18.

ALTOONA (48): Wilt 1 0-0 2, Moore 2 0-0 4, Krull 7 4-5 18, M. Eyer 5 0-0 12, Harpster 2 0-0 6, R. Eyer 2 0-0 6, Cogan 0 0-0 0, Knorr 0 0-0 0, Stadmiller 0 0-0 0, Berardinelli 0 0-0 0, Lantzy 0 0-0 0. Totals - 19 4-5 48.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Erie 4 9 3 2--18

Altoona 18 4 11 15--48

3-point goals: Erie 1 (Williams); Altoona 6 (M. Eyer 2, R. Eyer 2, Harpster 2).

Records: Erie (18-7); Altoona (20-4).

Officials: Vicki Markiewicz, Doug McNulty, Tony Hutzell.