‘We just stayed with it’: Penns Valley girls’ basketball takes down Bellefonte in game of runs
Penns Valley girls’ basketball won a game of runs on the road Thursday night, taking down the Bellefonte Red Raiders, 44-33.
The Rams may have won by double digits, but the Red Raiders continually fought back when they fell behind, chipping away at the deficit.
“We just stayed with it,” Penns Valley coach Terrance Green said. “We stayed with it, got our buckets, and we talk about it all the time. Basketball is a game of possession. … It’s gonna be bucket after bucket. And we stayed composed. That was the biggest thing in the second half, staying composed.”
It was the Red Raiders who got out to an early lead with a 4-3 advantage in the early portion of the game before a quick four-point spurt put the Rams back on top. Both teams struggled to hit shots early but some transition offense allowed both to get some extra buckets before the quarter ended, including a press break by Bellefonte senior Maddie Tice, which led to an open layup and 8-7 lead for her team.
Penns Valley responded with a 7-1 spurt before the quarter ended to take a 14-9 lead.
Tice cut into the Penns Valley lead to open the second quarter with another make to cut the lead to three.
Once again the Rams had a quick response of their own to a Tice bucket. They rattled off five straight points to build an eight-point lead at 19-11.
Bellefonte upped the pressure from there to put up their own 7-0 run and cut the lead to a single point, but the Rams once again went on their own run, this time to close the half. They used a full-court press to go on a 9-1 run and earn a 28-19 lead heading into the half. They were led by sophomore Avery Dinges with eight points, while Bellefonte was led by Tice with nine points.
The second half opened with the Red Raiders cutting into the lead once again, rattling off seven of the next nine points to make it a four point game. The two teams went back and forth from there in the quarter with the Rams putting more space between themselves and the home team. They took a 36-28 lead into the final quarter, leaving Bellefonte minimal time to make another run at winning the game.
The lead proved to be plenty for Penns Valley in the fourth quarter as both teams struggled offensively and the Rams looked to run the clock, with only five points scored in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Red Raiders were able to cut the lead to five at 38-33 with 1:46 left in the game. That’s as close as they were able to get thanks to the Penns Valley defense. They were held scoreless from there as the Rams closed out the 44-33 victory.
Green said his team’s pressure and patience contributed to their strong defensive fourth quarter.
“We had to turn it up,” Green said. “We talked about intensity and we brought it in the fourth quarter there. We needed to close the game, we’ve been working on that, and we did an excellent job tonight of closing that game off.”
Tice and Dinges led the game with 15 points each for their respective teams.
Dinges and the Rams are now 6-5 on the season with the win while Tice and the Red Raiders dropped to 2-7 after the loss.
Bellefonte will head on the road to face West Branch on Saturday, while Penns Valley will host senior night on the same day against Philipsburg-Osceola.
Penns Valley 44, Bellefonte 33
(Friday at Bellefonte)
Penns Valley 14 14 8 8 — 44
Bellefonte 9 10 9 5 — 33
Penns Valley (6-5)
Dinges 2 (2) 5-8 15, Kailen Winkelblech 2 (2) 0-0 10, Ann-Marie McMurtrie 2 (1) 2-2 9, Leah Beben 4 0-0 8, Katie Romig 0 2-2 2.
Bellefonte (2-7)
Tice 3 (1) 6-8 15, Mia Johnson 4 1-2 9, Bella Corman 3 0-4 6, Hana Rados 1 0-0 2, Lily Gardner 0 1-2 1.
