Halle Herrington sets P-O scoring record in loss to Bellefonte

Halle Herrington was determined to break the girls’ basketball career scoring record at Philipsburg-Osceola. And Bellefonte was determined not to let it happen in its gym Thursday night.

For three quarters, the Lady Raiders had the prolific junior guard fairly contained. Bellefonte secured a 57-51 victory over the Lady Mounties, but Herrington got hot — and now stands alone atop the Lady Mounties’ scoring greats.

“I was trying to win it for the team, first of all,” said Herrington, who finished with 35 points and has 1,443 for her career. “Then try to get the points, but the points came first.”

Herrington surpassed Missy Witters Helsel’s previous program standard of 1,439, which she set in 1996. Helsel also served a few seasons as head coach of the P-O program. Herrington, who averaged 30.8 points per game entering the night, also holds the program marks for a game and single season.

She needed 31 points to equal Helsel’s total when the game began against their Centre County rivals.

“It was in the back of their minds, but I think we were more focused on the win,” P-O coach Alexis Bacher said. “To me I wasn’t focused on the 32 until like the fourth quarter.”

It took a huge 19-point fourth quarter for the junior to break the record, matching and then breaking the standard with a pair of free throws with 40.3 seconds left and P-O trailing by seven.

“It was super heart-pounding,” Herrington said about how she felt at the foul line. “I just wanted to finish it.”

With individual scoring totals on Bellefonte’s scoreboard, even though she tried not to be absorbed with her numbers, Herrington was aware of what she had to do entering the final eight minutes.

“I think it pushed me further to score more and try to help the team,” said Herrington, who capped her night with a 30-foot buzzer-beater.

The Lady Raiders did their best to contain the junior.

They played a variety of defenses, including a 1-3-1 zone and a few gimmick man-to-man and zone combinations. Drawing the heaviest assignment was sophomore Mallorie Smith, with freshman Lily Gardner also trying to cover Herrington.

“It’s tough,” coach Adam Gearhart said. “The team — they were upset that it happened here. They didn’t want to be the ones to give it up.”

Someone who is pretty familiar with breaking records is Smith, who holds Bellefonte’s single-season and career soccer scoring records.

“I knew she had a record to break and I knew she was determined to break it,” Smith said. “It made me think of, ‘Wow, I broke a record and I knew how bad I wanted to do that,’ and I didn’t want to be on the opposite side of it. I don’t want to know how that feels.”

The defense helped Bellefonte build a 10-point lead by halftime, and never let P-O draw closer than four points in the second half. Even when Herrington started to pour in the points, Bellefonte always had an answer.

“Our team offense, team defense really played well,” Gearhart said. “This is one of the better all-around team games that we’ve played this season.”

Freshman Maddie Tice had a big game of her own, netting 20. Maddie Steiner added a dozen points and Smith tossed in eight.

“It felt really good other than the fact that we gave that (record) up,” said Smith. “Halle’s a good person. I knew that she was going to get it tonight or tomorrow. She’s a very good player.”

Herrington’s next goal is to chase 2,000 points for her career, which would make her the third Centre County basketball player — male or female — to reach that milestone.

“I wasn’t really trying to worry about it,” Herrington said. “At the end I’m like, “I want to get it. I don’t want to wait another game for it.’”

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 11:20 PM with the headline "Halle Herrington sets P-O scoring record in loss to Bellefonte."