Trending
The Altoona Area High School girls basketball team ushered in the Christmas season by celebrating the program's first-ever school spirit game, a Monday Mid-Penn Conference matinee which featured Cumberland Valley visiting the Fieldhouse.
Classes were dismissed during the game, and resumed afterward, so that the Altoona High students could fill the bleachers and provide loud vocal support for their team.
The Lady Lions put on quite a show for their classmates, lighting up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree in the first quarter while building a 25-9 lead en route to a 60-34 victory.
"It was a great environment here today -- awesome,'' said Altoona coach Chris Fleegle, whose team hiked its overall record to 7-2 and its unbeaten mark in the conference to 5-0. "(Altoona athletic director) Mr. (Phil) Riccio worked with the people at Cumberland Valley to set this up, and we're grateful for Cumberland Valley's cooperation.
"All the kids in the stands created an unbelievable atmosphere for the high school players,'' Fleegle added.
Altoona fed off the fans' energy and came out blazing in the first period, converting eight of its 11 shots, with junior guard Raylin Eyer scoring 14 points while connecting on four 3-pointers. Eyer, who also scored a fifth trifecta in the second quarter, wound up with 19 points to share game-scoring honors with her teammate, senior guard Zaelinh Nguyen-Moore.
"It felt good to play in front of this big crowd today,'' Eyer said. "(The crowd's) support gave me momentum, and helped me to shoot better.''
Fleegle said that Eyer's outside shooting and the inside-outside scoring ability of Moore and sophomore standout Brionna Hudson make Altoona a multi-dimensional offensive threat.
"She's our floor spacer,'' Fleegle said of Eyer. "She can knock down the outside shot with the best that's ever played here, and she opens up the floor for two more of our extremely good players, Zaelinh and Brionna.''
Altoona burst out to a 16-4 lead with Eyer hitting her four first-quarter 3-balls from three different points beyond the arc after opening the game's scoring with a bucket off the drive. Hudson scored six points and Moore added five in the opening eight minutes and Altoona went on cruise control for the remainder of the game.
"We just could not overcome their big start,'' said Cumberland Valley coach Bill Wolf, whose team dropped to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference. "Altoona shot the ball really well today, and even though we got it together a bit in the second quarter, we couldn't score, and we were basically playing catch-up the entire game.''
With Moore scoring seven points in both the second and third quarters, Altoona enjoyed a 37-11 lead at the intermission and a 54-25 spread after three quarters.
"Zaelinh has been having a fantastic start to her senior year,'' Fleegle said of Moore, whose eight rebounds enabled her to share game scoring honors in that department with Hudson. "She's the engine that makes us go with her scoring, defense and rebounding. It's her senior year, it's her time to shine, and she is taking full advantage of it.''
Senior Payton Bashore led Cumberland Valley with 10 points in a game that allowed Fleegle to get everybody on his roster a decent amount of floor time.
"We've adopted a philosophy of constant growth for this team,'' Fleegle said. "Our goal is to get better and better every day, so we will be our best at the end of the season.''
Game notes: Altoona, which fashioned a 29-15 edge in rebounds, made 21 of 43 floor shots (48.8 percent) while Cumberland Valley made 12 of 36 (33 percent) ... Three female officials -- Courtney Cecere, Emma Musser, and Mairade Byrne -- called the game, which is believed to be a Fieldhouse first ... The Altoona High School vocal ensemble performed a splendid pre-game rendition of the National Anthem ... Altoona plays in a multi-team competition next week at North Allegheny High School, facing Penn Hills Monday and Shaler Tuesday.
CUMBERLAND VALLEY (34): Bashore 3 1-2 10, Moul 2 0-0 6, Witalec 1 0-0 2, Warner 2 0-0 5, Carl 0 0-2 0, Chambers 2 2-2 6, Andrews 1 0-0 3, Pugh 0 0-0 0, Golalic 0 0-0 0, Hoover 1 0-0 2, Yarlett 0 0-0 0. Totals - 12 3-6 34.
ALTOONA (60): Hudson 2 4-4 8, Moore 7 3-3 19, Eyer 6 2-2 19, Cogan 0 0-2 0, Harpster 2 0-0 5, Cuspert 1 0-0 3, Davis 1 0-0 2, Beck 1 0-0 2, Nedimyer 1 0-0 2, Potts 0 0-0 0, Rossman 0 0-0 0, Lantzy 0 0-0 0, Plunket 0 0-0 0, Neuner 0 0-0 0. Totals - 21 9-11 60.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Cumberland Valley 9 2 14 9 -- 34
Altoona 25 12 17 6 -- 60
3-point goals: Cumberland Valley 7 (Bashore 3, Moul 2, Warner, Andrews); Altoona 9 (Eyer 5, Moore 2, Harpster 2).
Records: Cumberland Valley (5-2 overall, 3-2 in the Mid-Penn Conference); Altoona (7-2, 5-0).
Officials: Courtney Cecere, Emma Musser, Mairaide Byrne.
JV: Altoona, 45-25. High scorers--Kiera Doll, CV, 8; Kharisma Davis, A, 12.