Last Tuesday’s girls’ basketball game between Penns Valley and Bellefonte was Senior Night, a chance to honor the Lady Raiders’ lone senior Jillian Musser.
There were plenty of gifts, jokes and tears for Musser, who has had to watch her very young teammates struggle through a 4-17 season.
However, after that pregame ceremony, an extra session was added to note a milestone for the Lady Raiders’ coach. A few days earlier, Roger Herto had coached his 1,000th game at either the varsity, junior varsity or junior high level.
“I wasn’t expecting that, I wasn’t even thinking about that,” said Herto, who has 630 career wins over all those stops. “The people here have been so good to me. I really know by the kids and the support group here that I made a really good choice to come here.”
He actually hit the millennial mark in the Lady Raiders’ win over Belleville Mennonite on Jan. 26.
Herto is in just his first season with Bellefonte, with most of those games led at Indian Valley, where he guided the Lady Warriors for 19 seasons, or the former Kishacoquillas High School, his alma mater.
“If you can say this winning only four games, the people here have made this a very enjoyable situation,” said Herto, who has now coached in 1,005 career basketball games. “We’ve struggled but everything we’ve struggled with we’ve done together. Taking the time to honor me was really, really a surprise.”
The Bellefonte athletic department and team members presented Herto with a basketball adorned with signatures from all his players to commemorate the milestone.
The season has not been the best for the Lady Raiders, who suffered another loss Monday night to Williamsport and will not be taking part in the District 6 playoffs. Still, with all but Musser expected to return next season, Herto is figuring on seeing the program bounce back and is already looking forward to plenty of improvement.
“I know what’s ahead of us, I know there’s a lot of good times ahead for these kids,” Herto said. “I look for us to be very competitive next year and I look for us to be a playoff-caliber team the following year.”
Bellefonte closes its season Wednesday at Central Mountain.
Prepping for the playoffs
One team eager to see its season extended is Bald Eagle Area, which has a tough week on its schedule to prep the team for the postseason. The program found out Monday it will be the No. 4 seed in the Class AA playoffs and will meet No. 13 Juniata in the first round next Tuesday. BEA won both regular-season meetings between the teams, including 54-47 last week in Mifflintown.
The Lady Eagles (17-4) began this week with a 59-56 victory Monday night against Bishop McCort, which is the No. 8 seed in the Class AA bracket. The Crimson Crushers were the last team to beat BEA, 60-45 in Wingate on Feb. 4. BEA’s only other losses were to Class AAA Clearfield in mid-January, and back-to-back losses to Tyrone (Class AAA top seed) and Forest Hills (Class AA top seed) in December.
On Wednesday, the Lady Eagles get another tough test with Mifflin County, which will likely draw the No. 2 seed in the Class AAAA bracket when it is released next week.
Then on Saturday, BEA and Tyrone will tangle in a rematch at Bellefonte High School in the Mountain League championship game. Both teams are atop their respective divisions — the Nittany and Allegheny — to set up the contest.
The game will tip off at 5 p.m., and will be followed at 7 p.m. by the boys’ championship game between Tyrone and Central Mountain.
BEA lost to Central in the Mountain League championship game last season.
Fantastic finish
Lauren Simcox saw her high school basketball career come to an end Friday night, but she could not have found too many better ways to leave the court.
The senior poured in 30 points in the Lady Mounties’ 61-59 win over Huntingdon.
“It really meant a lot to me, especially since I was playing with those girls for the last time,” Simcox said. “Knowing that it was my last game of my high school career, I really wanted to play well. But that night, over others, whenever I started making shots I just felt like I was in a groove.”
The total just missed her career high of 32, set against Penns Valley during Christmas break.
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Simcox said of the hot shooting hand. “It feels like, when the ball comes out of your hand, you almost know that it’s going to go in.”
The scoring output for Simcox, who at 5-foot is usually the smallest player on the floor, helped the Lady Mounties (5-17) end a five-game losing streak and close a rough season on a high note. Simcox, who leads all Centre County girls in scoring this season with 15.5 points and game and is tops with 41 3-pointers, finished her career with 882 points.
Gordon Brunskill can be reached at 231-4608.
