Irwin sets record, State College downs Altoona

Kyla Irwin didn’t know. She didn’t want to.

But when a loud roar from the crowd erupted at the 6:35 mark of the second quarter, most in the State College gym had an idea of what the senior accomplished.

Irwin became State College’s all-time leading scorer — for boys or girls — on Thursday night, amassing 29 points and helping the Lady Little Lions to a 69-54 win over Altoona. The senior finished the evening with 1,868 points for her career, passing 1977 graduate Chris Dodd’s total of 1,844.

Irwin, who was recognized at halftime for her achievement and congratulated every which way after the game, said she understood going into the game that she was close to the record.

“But I didn’t want to know the exact number,” Irwin admitted with a smile. “That puts pressure on it.”

Entering the evening, Irwin needed five points to tie Dodd and six to surpass him. She almost earned the No. 1 spot in the first quarter.

After scoring State College’s opening four points, the forward had chances — a 3-pointer clanked off the side of the rim, and an open mid-range jumper bounced off the back.

But less than two minutes into the second quarter, she eradicated any pressure.

On an Altoona inbound under its own basket, Lady Little Lion point guard Kayla Hawbaker picked off the pass and pushed up the court. She picked her head up at halfcourt and found a streaking Irwin, with a step on her defender sprinting toward the basket.

Hawbaker hit the senior in stride, and Irwin, like she has done so many times, bodied out the incoming defender and finished with a layup.

It wasn’t Irwin’s main focus, but she was happy to claim the lead.

Her coach, and mother, Bethany Irwin was pleased as well.

“It goes beyond words of trying to explain, as a parent, seeing your kid do what she’s done,” Bethany Irwin said. “She handles herself so well. ... She has been double-teamed, triple-teamed, clung to, six hands on her, and she keeps coming out fighting. That’s awesome.”

Plus, the outcome might have been different if Irwin didn’t break the record.

“If we didn’t get six points from her in this game, we were going to lose it,” the coach said with a laugh.

Instead, State College wasted no time building a comfortable cushion. The Lady Little Lions led 16-3 after the first quarter, 33-20 at halftime, and 52-32 heading into the fourth quarter.

Those leads were built not only on Irwin’s success, but also State College’s ability to respond to Altoona’s perimeter shooting.

The Lady Mountain Lions were shooting 3-pointers every chance they could. In total, Altoona heaved 32 attempts from beyond the arc, connecting on 13 of them (40.6 percent).

Five of the 13 came in the fourth quarter alone, helping the Lady Mountain Lions trim State College’s lead from the 20’s to 12 at one point in the final period.

“Holy smokes did they hit them,” Bethany Irwin said. “They were on fire.”

That’s when the Lady Little Lions leaned on Kyla Irwin the most. Their coach was content with allowing 3-pointers as long as her team answered back — and it did, feeding Irwin on the block.

The future Connecticut Husky had eight points in the fourth quarter.

“She’s just one tough customer,” Altoona coach Miriam Colledge said of Irwin. “What are you going to do?”

Not much, especially when Irwin’s teammates are contributing. Abby Allen had 13 points while hitting three 3-pointers, as Hawbaker and Jess Orndorff chipped in nine points apiece.

It was a far cry from the two teams’ first meeting, a 36-34 State College win in the second game of the season.

“Both teams were like ugh, trying to work out the kinks,” Bethany Irwin said. “Now, we’re seasoned, and it’s nice to see the distribution of the ball.”

The biggest difference between that game and Thursday night? In the early December contest, Irwin had just 12 points.

That wasn’t remotely the case this time around.

Instead, Irwin delivered a memorable effort — one that will be etched in the minds of many, and the record books, for quite some time.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 12:32 AM with the headline "Irwin sets record, State College downs Altoona."