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CRESSON -- With Portage moving up to the Class 5A level in District 6 this year, the Lady Mustangs knew that Hollidaysburg would be one of the teams they would have to get by if a trip to the state tournament was on their itinerary.
And with only five teams in the classification, it's a good bet the two teams will meet up again in the postseason, so consider Saturday's 46-40 Lady Tiger victory at Mount Aloysius College round 1 in the short series.
"That is our hope right now, to put ourselves in that position," Lady Tigers coach Deanna Jubeck said when asked about possibly facing Portage again in a few weeks. "But we're not there yet. We still have to take care of business. Nothing is guaranteed. We just want to make sure we take care of ourselves."
Besides Hollidaysburg and Portage, DuBois, Bellefonte and Obama Academy make up the rest of the field. Right now, Portage (11-6) would be the No. 4 seed while the Lady Tigers (11-6) are No. 1. Still, Portage coach Lance Hudak believes his club more than held its own in a game in which his team led for a good part of the afternoon.
"The whole unknowing thing of never playing them, or a school their size … but we feel after today we can play with them," he said. "We are going to watch the film and learn from our mistakes and hopefully get better. In the whole grand scheme of things, it was just another game."
It was a game early on that Portage controlled, en route to a 17-10 first-quarter lead, thanks to the play of Taylor Glass, who scored 11 of those 17 points.
"The Glass kid is phenomenal. We had to change what we were doing defensively," Jubeck said.
Allison Hileman, who led Hollidaysburg with 29 points, scored the first five of the second quarter to cut the Portage lead to 17-15 at the 5:42 mark. However, the Lady Mustangs stopped the bleeding at that point, finished with an 8-0 run, and led, 25-17, at the break.
"Their kids are good. (Kara) Dividock, Glass, the (Abbi) Riskus kid … we knew we were going to be in a dogfight for 32 minutes. We had to make sure we continued to fight because we knew their kids didn't stop," Jubeck said.
The Lady Tigers, who led only once in the first half at 2-0, got back in it in the third quarter, thanks to seven points from Hileman and four from Janessa Goins. Freshman Marin Miller came off the bench to sink two foul shots with 47 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game at 30-30. Hudak knew that the Tigers' defense was a big reason why his club managed just five points in the frame.
"From watching them on film and scouting them, they play a very tough aggressive defense and they picked up their intensity as the game went on and forced us into making some bad decisions," he said. "We were trying to do too much offensively. When we stay composed and run the offense, let time run off the clock, good things happen to us."
Jubeck believed the play of her freshman, Miller, was a big key in the turnaround. Glass had 11 points in the first quarter and just six the rest of the way as she finished with 17.
"(Miller) came in in the second half and did a great job on her," Jubeck said. "I think she got a little frustrated but we put her in, and that in itself was a little bit of the difference."
Hileman was a bigger difference. The junior scored 11 points in the final frame, including a three-point play at the 6:07 mark that put the Lady Tigers in front at 33-32. The lead got no bigger than six midway through the frame. Dividock hit a big jumper at the 2:56 mark to cut it to 40-38. A foul shot by freshman Lauren Shaffer cut it again to two points at 41-39 at the 1:59 mark, but foul shots down the stretch, three from Miller, one from Alyssa Bell and two from Hileman, set the final at 46-40.
"The old adage is it doesn't matter who starts but who is in the game when it's finished," said Jubeck, whose club hit 10-of-14 foul shots in the fourth. "The kids we had in the game at the end were our free throw shooters."
Hudak was gracious in talking about Hileman's accomplishments.
"She's a player and we knew that coming in, not only shooting the ball but she aggressively attacks the basket," he said. "Good players show up in big games, and she definitely did today."
Hollidaysburg hosts Altoona on Monday, while Portage will play at Conemaugh Valley on Monday.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (46): Goins 1 2-2 4, McClain 0 0-1 0, Snyder 0 1-2 1, Hileman 10 6-8 29, Bell 2 1-2 5, Miller 0 5-6 5, O'Neil 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 12-19 46.
PORTAGE (40): Papcun 2 1-2 5, Dividock 3 0-0 7, Teno 0 0-0 0, Glass 4 8-8 17, Sease 0 0-0 0, Riskus 2 1-4 5, Kissell 0 3-4 3, Sossong 0 0-0 0, Shaffer 0 1-2 1, Swank 1 0-0 2. Totals: 10 14-20 40.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Hollidaysburg 10 7 13 16 -- 46
Portage 17 8 5 10 -- 40
3-point goals: Hollidaysburg 3 (Hileman 3); Portage 2 (Glass, Dividock).
Records: Hollidaysburg (11-6); Portage (11-6).
Officials: Scott Campbell, Pam Grimminger, Jeff Fisher.
JV: No game.