Holiday tournament winners and standouts abound in Centre County: HS sports
Philipsburg-Osceola took home the girls’ basketball West Branch Holiday Tournament title with a 42-35 victory over Bald Eagle Area in Friday’s championship game. A close game throughout, P-O led 30-26 after three quarters and hung on in the fourth quarter for the win.
Halle Herrington scored a game-high 32 points for the Lady Mounties. Lacee Barnhart led the BEA with 11 points.
Both teams advanced to the championship game with wins in the opening round Thursday. Philipsburg beat Harmony 59-31, and BEA knocked off host West Branch 49-43. Already leading 19-4 after one quarter, P-O outscored Harmony by 17 points in the second quarter for a 42-10 halftime lead. Herrington led the Lady Mounties with 34 points, and Kyleigh Kennedy added 10 points.
BEA got 17 points from Rachel Veneziano and 14 from Maddie Perry in its win over West Branch. “I thought we attacked the basket really well,” BEA coach Darin Hazel said. “Rach Veneziano played a great game.”
P-O improved to 5-3 with the two tournament victories. BEA is 2-4.
State College hosted a four-team tournament Thursday and Friday and came away victorious. The Lady Little Lions downed Bishop Carroll Catholic 46-33 Friday in the State College Kiwanis Tournament championship game.
Leading 10-2 after one quarter, State College took the second quarter as well for a 22-8 halftime lead. The Lady Little Lions added to the lead in the third quarter on their way to the 13-point victory. Maya Bokunewicz scored a game-high 16 points, Isabelle Leazier finished with 10 points and Kelsey Love added eight points for the winners.
State College opened the tournament Thursday with a 46-26 win over Hempfield. Tied 4-4 after one quarter, SC opened up a nine-point lead by halftime and pulled away in the second half for the 20-point victory. Bokunewicz scored a game-high 21 points for the Lady Little Lions.
Boys’ basketball
Bellefonte won the Ram Jam Winter Tournament with a 53-29 win over Juniata in Friday’s championship game.
The Red Raiders outscored Juniata 14-3 in the second quarter for a 27-11 halftime lead and continued adding to the lead in the second half to secure the tournament title. Noah Badger scored a game-high 14 points, Nate Tice had 10 points, and Isaiah Nadolsky added nine.
Bellefonte faced a much stiffer challenge in a low-scoring affair against host Penns Valley Thursday to open the tournament. Up 17-16 after three quarters, Bellefonte doubled up the Rams in the fourth, 16-8, for a 33-24 win.
Badger had a game-high 13 points, and Tice added seven points, all of which came in the decisive fourth quarter. Cam Shaffer led Penns Valley with seven points.
Philipsburg-Osceola went 1-1 at the Williamsburg Blue Pirates Holiday tournament, losing to Central in Saturday’s championship game after defeating Northern Bedford in the tournament opener Friday.
Trailing Central by three at halftime, P-O tied the game 25-25 by the end of the third quarter. The Dragons pulled away, however, with a big fourth quarter for a 51-30 win. Tyler Doyle led the Mounties with 10 points. Ryan Whitehead added eight points.
Philipsburg easily defeated Northern Bedford the night before, 77-30. Leading by six at the end of one quarter, the Mounties put up 21 points in the second quarter for a 36-16 halftime lead. Philipsburg continued to pad the lead in the second half with 17 and 24 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Whitehead led the Mounties with a game-high 19 points. Doyle and Isiah Scalzo scored 11 apiece.
Wrestling
Bellefonte and Philipsburg-Osceola both had five place-winners at the Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic Friday and Saturday. Ethan Richner (152) and Ethan Rossman (182) each took second place for the Red Raiders. Bellefonte’s Lane Aikey (120) and Alex Coppolo (126) both captured fourth place in back-to-back weight classes, and Cole Stewart (138) was eighth.
Hunter Weitoish (152) placed third for the Mounties, and Chase Chapman (132) finished fifth. Nick Bryan (106) and Gabe Dunkelberger (126) both came in sixth, and Matt Shimmel was eighth.
Bellefonte finished ninth out of 27 teams. Philipsburg was 15th. Huntingdon was the lone AA team to finish higher than the Mounties.
Four Bald Eagle Area wrestlers finished in the top four in their respective weight classes at the Tony Iasiello Memorial Bethlehem Catholic Wrestling Tournament: Dylan Bisel (182) took home third place. Garrett Giedroc (120), Alex Holt (132) and David Close (195) each came in fourth place. BEA finished seventh in the team standings.