Basketball

Miller, Lambour tabbed as honorary captains for games

Two former local school standouts who played Division I basketball will be the honorary captains for the 17th annual Altoona Mirror Basketball Classic.

The Classic matches the top seniors from Blair County against the top seniors from Central PA and will take place on Thursday, March 28 at Penn State Altoona.

The girls game tipoff at 6:30 p.m. with the boys to follow at 8:30. The Classic is played in memory of Big John and Tom Riley, and proceeds benefit the Big John Riley Scholarship Fund at Saint Francis University.

In between games, the Mirror will recognize Barb (Miller) Gilliland and Tim Lambour.

When Miller graduated from Tyrone Area High School in 1983, she did so as the Lady Eagles' all-time leading scorer with 1,000-plus points, the first Tyrone girl to achieve that milestone.

Miller was also the first Lady Eagle to earn a Division I scholarship as she enrolled at Saint Francis, where her scoring continued, and she became the program's career scoring leader with 1,366 points. (She's currently 13th).

Miller won the Wallace Award in 1987, presented to Saint Francis' top female athlete, and in 1999, she was the first woman inducted into the Saint Francis Athletics Hall of Fame.

She and her husband, Chip Gilliland, currently reside in Lorton, Virginia, where she is a projects and compliance coordinator for Dominion Energy. 

The couple has two daughters.

Lambour played a key role in Bishop Guilfoyle's drive to the Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association championship in 1970 when the Marauders won consecutive Altoona-Johnstown Diocesan championships and went 20-4 as a senior.

He was recruited by Georgetown and accepted a scholarship to play for the Hoyas and became a two-year starter and three-year regular as a point guard.

Lambour averaged 5.3 points per game as a sophomore for the Hoyas in 1971-72, at which point Georgetown made a coaching change -- hiring John Thompson, who became a national legend and led the program to the 1984 national championship.

Lambour averaged 5.7 points as a junior and 3.3 as a senior and remains one of the Hoyas' career leaders in assists, averaging 5.6 per game as a junior in 1972-73.

He also walked onto the Georgetown baseball team and played shortstop for three years.

Lambour, who works as an operations administrator for FedEx and is a financial educator, resides in Milford, N.J. with his wife, Stephanie. They have two children.

Tickets for the classic cost $5 and can be purchased at the Mirror from 9-4 p.m. weekdays or at Penn State Altoona beginning at 5:30 p.m. on March 28.

Team rates (15 tickets for $45) are also available at the Mirror or by calling Autumn Feather at 814-946-7485 or email her at afeather@altoonamirror.com.

Players and coaches for the Classic will be announced when they are finalized in the coming weeks.