Bellefonte dominates 3rd quarter, holds off Philipsburg-Osceola for win

Before the game, Bellefonte girls’ basketball coach Adam Gearhart told his team that “losing is not an option tonight.”

The words echoed in each of the girls’ ears as the Lady Red Raiders squeaked past Philipsburg-Osceola for a 45-44 victory Wednesday night.

After Bellefonte’s zone proved to be ineffective in the first half — Philipsburg-Osceola led 20-16 at halftime — Gearhart switched to a more energetic man-to-man defense with Bellefonte star Jess Book covering P-O star Haylee Hayward and Raisa Gregor on Halle Herrington.

Gregor picked up two quick fouls, but the Lady Red Raiders dominated the third quarter, going on an 18-0 run and outscoring the Lady Mounties 20-2. P-O’s Lacey Potter scored her team’s only points of the quarter with 1:35 left.

“We were getting good shots, they just weren’t falling,” said P-O coach Doug Myers. “It’s hard to explain, we’re a pretty good shooting team, but we just got ice cold.”

Bellefonte’s Lea McCartney and Jess Book both scored six points in the third quarter. They finished with 12 and 18, respectively.

“The third quarter was the game.” Myers said.

The game got off to a sloppy start, with both teams trading steals before Book took control and scored the first four points of the game. The Lady Mounties were on the board moments later after a Hayward 3-pointer. Lauren Young secured an 8-7 Bellefonte lead after the first quarter when she beat a double team in the post.

Tides changed in the second quarter as Hayward was left open for a 3-pointer at the top left of the arc. Philipsburg-Osceola continued to create turnovers and beat Bellefonte’s zone to take a 20-16 lead into the break.

“The first half was probably on me,” Gearhart said. “I was worried about Hayward and Halle Herrington, I didn’t want them beating us so we came out in a zone.”

Hayward scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the first half, while Herrington scored her only four of the game.

After Bellefonte’s big third quarter, all the Lady Red Raiders had to do was hold on.

However, Philipsburg-Osceola had different plans, raining down 3-pointer after 3-pointer.

“They hit everything that last minute, just everything they put up went in, I was stunned,” Gearhart said. “I probably should have called a timeout, but I didn’t want to give them momentum, but they had it. We were up 10 with less than a minute to go.”

Philipsburg-Osceola made six 3-pointers in the quarter. Three of which came in the final 30 seconds of the game, and two were within the last seven seconds as Cheyenne Bone nailed two 3s in a row.

However, even with the 22-point fourth quarter, the Lady Mounties couldn’t close the gap, falling by a single point.

Both teams will play again on Friday. Bellefonte (4-14) will travel to Tyrone, and P-O (6-10) will travel to Central.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Bellefonte dominates 3rd quarter, holds off Philipsburg-Osceola for win."