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Harmony ekes past West Branch
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
By Jaclyn Yingling Sports Editor
ALLPORT - The West Branch girls basketball team won the rebound battle against Harmony on Monday evening, but couldn't win the turnover battle and fell to the Lady Owls, 51-48.
It was the Lady Warriors' first loss in the Moshannon Valley League and kept alive Harmony's hopes for a tie for the MVL title.
"We came out sloppy," said West Branch head coach Dan Socash. "And that was the game. I don't know what else to say. A couple of shots if we would've made them, it could've been a different story. Both teams were fighting hard. It was one of those grind-it-out games. Both teams were exchanging baskets, just like when we played them at Harmony.
"We put a run together at the end, but we should've done that in the beginning. We were just a step slow on defense."
West Branch led 15-11 after the first quarter, thanks to eight points from Mariah McDowell and six from Rebecca Kephart.
Kephart is now the school's all-time leading female scorer by two points, surpassing Kari Larson.
The Lady Warriors struggled to keep up with the pace of the game, and the Lady Owls took advantage, taking a one-point lead at the half. Alyson Leyo had seven of her 25 points in the frame.
"We came out a little sluggish, and so did West Branch, and that was good for us," Harmony head coach Joe Leyo said. "We played steady all game. We seemed to get better and better as the game went on.
"When you have a lead, you can control the tempo. You aren't rushing things, and you aren't forcing things you don't want to do. Fortunately, we did keep the lead most of the game."
The teams traded baskets back and forth in the third quarter with Harmony holding on to a 32-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Owls started off the final quarter by going on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 40-30 with 6:09 remaining.
Leyo had four of the points, including two on foul shots.
Harmony went 11-of-14 from the charity stripe in the second half, compared to its 3-of-9 effort in the first half.
"We did put the foul shots in (at the end)," said coach Leyo. "The first half we missed quite a few shots. The second half we put those in, and that's what sealed it off for us."
Bethany Kopchik helped break the Lady Owls' momentum, knocking down two baskets to help cut the score to 40-34. Kopchik had a good game for the Lady Warriors, finishing the night with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Kephart added a bucket to put the score at 40-36 before Leyo was fouled twice more and hit all four free throws.
That put the score at 44-36 with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
"We need to get better playing man-to-man," Socash said. "I didn't want to go to a zone, because we need to get better on our man-to-man if we want to beat a quality team. It was up to them to do that, and tonight we were just a step slow."
A drive to the basket by Kephart resulted in an extra shot after she was fouled, and she connected, trimming Harmony's lead to 44-39.
A free throw by Leyo had the Lady Owls up by six before another Kephart basket put the score at 45-41.
A steal by Jada Larson with 47.6 seconds remaining cut the score to 45-43.
But Harmony drove right back down the court, and Leyo tipped in another basket off a rebound.
Kephart added another jumper, putting the score at 47-45. The Lady Warriors were forced to foul, and sent Lindsay Neff to the line with 10 seconds left.
Neff hit both shots, giving the visitors a 49-45 advantage. West Branch drove down the court and Kephart threw up a 3-point shot to bring the Lady Warriors to within 49-48 with 6.0 remaining.
West Branch fouled Makenzie Kruise with 0.6 left. She hit both shots, leaving the Lady Warriors with one try on the inbounds pass. Kephart got the ball and threw up a shot, which hit the backboard, but missed the net, setting the final at 51-48.
"All of the girls played well defensively," Leyo said. "Playing with that size and that height, they stuck with it defensively. They did a good job."
Leyo led all players with 25 points and nine rebounds. Kruise finished the game with 11 points, while Neff notched nine points and six rebounds.
Kephart paced West Branch with 23 points and 16 rebounds. McDowell added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
West Branch fell to 11-6 overall and 6-1 in the Moshannon Valley League. The Lady Warriors host Mount Union this evening.
Harmony improved to 8-9 overall and 5-2 in the MVL. The Lady Owls travel to Purchase Line on Saturday morning at 11.
There was no junior varsity game. Harmony-51
Leyo 8 7-8 25, Kruise 3 5-6 11, Neff 3 2-2 9, Westover 0 0-2 0, McDonald 1 0-4 2, Novella 2 0-1 4, Maseto 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 14-23 51.
West Branch-48
Jarrett 0 1-2 1, McDowell 6 1-3 13, Kephart 9 3-5 23, Larson 1 1-2 3, Kopchik 3 2-2 8, Crowell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 8-14 48.
Three-pointers: Leyo 2, Neff; Kephart 2.
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