HOLLIDAYSBURG — During the first quarter of their Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference girls basketball matchup with Bishop McCort Catholic, Hollidaysburg’s problems came in three.

The Lady Tigers spent much of it struggling against the Lady Crusher press, committed plenty of turnovers, and couldn’t get shots to fall.

Slowly, but surely, they flipped the script as Makenna Weimert scored 12 of her season-high 32 points to spark a 61-52 Lady Tiger comeback win Saturday afternoon at the Hollidaysburg High School gym.

Ava Zucco was the early source of their trouble as she drew the bonus free throw midway through the opening stanza as she scored a team-high 18 points. Kalina Bailey added on with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give McCort a 15-6 lead.

“We just had to strengthen our defense a little bit and offensively gain some composure,” Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said. “We haven’t seen a press like Bishop McCort’s yet this year.

“They’re tenacious, they’re fast, they’re physical. Once we knew that we had our kids settled down and were in rhythm, then we thought we’d be in good shape. We often preach that a press is meant to speed you up, turn the ball over, and make you take bad shots. That’s what we did initially until we settled ourselves.”

Weimert started creating trouble for the Crushers about three minutes into the second as she converted a layup off the turnover for one of her 14 field goals for the night. She drained five of them in the second alone.

“We know what she’s capable of doing,” Jubeck said. “We’ve seen here day in and day out for the past four years. Not only is she scoring, but she’s rebounding the ball for us. She’s probably one of the best passers within the Laurel Highlands. She’s a tough matchup for anybody. I’m glad she plays for Hollidaysburg.”

“I know that we can get back and play together,” Weimert said of the Lady Tigers ability to rally. “Sometimes we start slow, but if we work as a team, we always figure it out in the end.”

Moving into the third, Jillian Sidney knocked down a key 3 with under four minutes to play and that was quickly followed by a Weimert fast break take away to the game at 33. Sidney finished with 10.

“We got out of the press a little bit because they figured that out and we went back into zone,” Bishop McCort coach John Hahn said. “Our turnovers are always at the wrong time and it has been killing us all year long. We just got to get back to what we do well and try to quit turning over the basketball.”

Zoey Ferguson, though, picked up the production for McCort as she came up with a bucket on her way to scoring 14.

Hollidaysburg took the lead for good with just over 4 ½ minutes to go as Sidney knocked down another 3-pointer before Alana Lightner added a putback to help put the Lady Tigers ahead for good.

“Jillian (Sidney) has made those threes for us last year, this year,” Jubeck said. “We know when that ball hits her in that corner it’s almost like turnaround, that three is going in.”

Jubeck was appreciative of the fact that her Lady Tigers got a playoff like test against a team that is fighting for home court in the Class 2A playoffs while looking to get Class 5A’s top seed.

“They’re good and solid 1-through-7,” she said. “They’re a tough match up because their kids can pound it inside and shoot the 3s. We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy Saturday.”

BISHOP MCCORT (52): Preuss 1 2-2 4, Zucco 7 4-6 18, Bair 1 0-0 3, Ferguson 4 6-10 14, Bailey 2 2-3 7, Wachs 1 0-0 2, Nash 1 2-3 4. Totals: 17 16-24 52.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (61): Lightner 2 0-0 4, Sidney 3 2-2 10, Weimert 14 4-4 32, Padamonsky 2 1-2 6, Steiner 1 0-0 2, Leighty 3 0-0 6, Hayer 0 1-4 1, Buffone 0 0-0 0, Gearhart 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 9-12 61.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop McCort 15 13 11 13 – 52

Hollidaysburg 6 18 15 22 – 61

3-point field goals: Bishop McCort 2 (Bair, Bailey), Hollidaysburg 2 (Sidney 2)

Records: Bishop McCort (10-6), Hollidaysburg (13-2).

Officials: Damon Rickens, Sean Albright, Kevin Laird

JV: No game.