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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE -- Tyrone Area High School girls basketball coach Mike Whitling was encouraging his players to shoot from outside in their first-round matchup against archrival Bellwood-Antis in the Judge Fred B. Miller Memorial Tyrone Holiday Basketball Tournament Friday night.
Whitling's players proved to be excellent listeners, too, canning nine 3-pointers and breaking open a close game by carrying the third quarter, 16-2, en route to a 50-38 victory at the Tyrone Area High School gymnasium.
The win advances Tyrone (4-3) into tonight's 6 p.m. girls tournament championship game against Penn Cambria, which punched its ticket to the girls title matchup with a 46-30 win over Central in Friday's other first-round girls game.
Tyrone and Bellwood were locked in a 20-20 tie at halftime, with Tyrone opening an early 13-4 lead before Bellwood used a 16-1 run to temporarily pull ahead.
Tyrone, which was led by junior guard Alayna Woomer's 16 points -- including four 3-pointers -- took command in the third quarter, which ended with Tyrone holding a 36-22 lead.
"16-2 ... that was really big for us,'' Whitling said. "We were unable to get into our defensive press in the first half, and we had a big scoring drought then, but I think that once we started hitting our shots and got into our press, we picked up a lot of momentum.
"When we get nice wide open looks from the outside, I definitely encourage our players to try to knock down those shots,'' Whitling added. "Especially tonight, against a team like Bellwood, which has a strong inside presence (in junior center Lilly Gerwert).''
Senior forward Alayna Greene got Tyrone rolling in the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the left corner that gave the Lady Eagles (4-3) the lead for good, 23-20. After the 6-foot-1 Gerwert, who scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds, hit one of two free throws, Tyrone rattled off the next eight points to go ahead, 31-21.
Alayna Woomer hit a jumper from the top of the key, and her cousin, freshman Lola Woomer, followed with a 3-pointer before Greene scored from inside and tacked on a free throw.
Gerwert made one of two free throws, but Greene scored on a jumper from the left corner and Alayna Woomer drained a 3-pointer from that same area to give Tyrone the 36-22 cushion.
Bellwood-Antis dropped to 4-4, and its head coach, Kyley Longo, was displeased with her team's overall effort.
"I didn't think that our effort was there at all tonight,'' Longo said. "Our effort was lousy. We didn't play together as a team, and we made too many turnovers. (Tyrone) played harder than we did, and they deserved to win.''
Whitling expects a stiff challenge from Penn Cambria in tonight's championship game, but he thought that his team took some significant strides Friday.
"We've been trying to turn the page and finish games this season, and I think that our players definitely learned something about winning tonight,'' Whitling said.
Game notes: Senior guard Marissa Cacciotti was in double figures for Bellwood with 10 points ... Tyrone converted six of 11 shots in the tell-tale third quarter, while Bellwood came up empty on all seven of its shots in the period ... Bellwood faces Central in this afternoon's 3 p.m. girls consolation game.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (38): Clapper 0 1-2 1, Cacciotti 4 0-0 10, Norton 4 0-0 8, Sweigert 0 0-0 0, Gerwert 4 9-14 18, Sloey 0 1-2 1, Plummer 0 0-0 0. Totals - 12 11-18 38.
TYRONE (50): Crowell 2 0-0 6, Greene 3 1-2 8, Lehman 4 0-2 8, A. Woomer 6 0-0 16, Parker 1 2-4 5, L. Woomer 2 0-0 5, Newlin 1 0-1 2, Volders 0 0-0 0, Gr. Naylor 0 0-0 0. Totals - 19 3-9 50.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellwood-Antis 9 11 2 16--38
Tyrone 13 7 16 14--50
3-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 3 (Cacciotti 2, Gerwert); Tyrone 9 (A. Woomer 4, Crowell 2, Parker, L. Woomer, Greene).
Records: Bellwood-Antis (4-4); Tyrone (4-3).
Officials: Mike Andrews, Randy Burkett, Courtney Cecere.