Eagles down two state ranked teams to earn tournament trophy

Countdown to 1,000: Engle only 7 points away!!

Coach Rhoades expresses his excitement.

When the Tyrone girls found out they were in the Bishop Guilfoyle Holiday tournament, they knew it wouldn’t be an easy ride. Whether they won or lost, they would be facing some of the top teams in the area.

The Lady Eagles were up to the challenge and received a late Christmas present, taking home Guilfoyle’s tournament trophy over the break.

Tyrone took down two state ranked teams, Blairsville in the first round and the always favored host, Bishop Guilfoyle in the championship game.

Against Blairsville, Kasey Engle scored a game-high 24 points to wrap up a 40-32 victory to advance to the championship game.

Engle scored all 13 of the Eagles fourth quarter points, and converted five for six free throws in the last 48 seconds to seal the win.

Tyrone prepared for Blairsville and had a game plan to shut down their two main scorers and were able to limit them to a combined 14 points.

Christine and Lehman each scored five points, while Cannistraci added four.

Tyrone then faced Bishop Guilfoyle, who had topped state power Delone Catholic 62-47 in the opening round.

BG was definitely favored but the Lady Eagles had a different opinion. Tyrone topped the Lady Marauders 47-46 one two game winning free throws by senior Finnley Christine.

The game was back and forth the whole way through. BG led 11-7 after the first quarter, but Engle sparked the Lady Eagles in the second quarter and rallied to a 25-18 lead over the Marauders at halftime.

With seven seconds left to play, Sprankle in-bounded to Christine, who took the ball up court and drew a foul. With 3.1 seconds left, Christine swished both free throws.

The Marauders put up a last second shot but could not get it to fall, securing the championship win for the Lady Eagles.

Kasey Engle scored 28 points against BG, and her tournament total of 52 points earned her the tournament MVP.

Christine added 14 points, including four three pointers that sparked the Lady Eagle offense early. Christine was also named to the all tournament team.

The two combined for 42 of the teams 47 points in the game against BG,

Box Score – Opening round

BLAIRSVILLE (32): Misleany 2 2-5 6, Enterline 6 0-1 12, Martin 1 0-0 2, E. Oswald 2 0-0 4, McCully 3 2-2 8, Riggle 0 0-0 0, Tran 0 0-0 0. Totals – 14 4-8 32.

TYRONE (40): Engle 7 8-10 24, Christine 2 0-0 5, Cannistraci 1 2-2 4, Sprankle 1 0-0 2, Lehman 2 1-3 5, Shaw 0 0-0 0. Totals – 13 11-15 40.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Blairsville: 3 13 12 4 – 32

Tyrone: 7 11 9 13 – 40

3-point goals: Tyrone 3 (Engle 2, Christine).

DECEMBER 29TH, 2015:

Box Score – Championship game

TYRONE (47): Engle 8 7-9 28, Christine 4 2-2 14, Cannistraci 1 0-0 2, Sprankle 0 0-0 0, Lehman 0 3-4 3, Shaw 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0. Totals – 13 12-15 47.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (46): Lewis 5 0-0 11, Audley 4 3-4 11, Taddei 0 2-2 2, Benzel 6 3-6 19, Jennings 0 0-0 0, Scipioni 0 0-0 0, Labriola 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 3-4 3. Totals – 15 11-16 46.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone                      7 18 12 10 – 47

Bishop Guilfoyle     11 7 18 10 – 46

3-point goals: Tyrone 9 (Engle 5, Christine 4); Bishop Guilfoyle 5 (Benzel 4, Lewis).

Junior Kasey Engle is only seven points en route to her 1,000 point plateau. The Lady Eagles are back in action tonight at Bellefonte. Tipoff at 7:30.