The Lady Eagles took a tough 51-42 loss Thursday night against the Juniata Valley Hornets after the team struggled to stop the Lady Hornets’ potent offense.

Tyrone walked away from their previous two match-ups with convincing double digit deficit victories, but this Juniata Valley team came to the Tyrone gym with a chip on their shoulder.

“This was in our minds the entire season,” Hopsicker said. “We’ve been thinking about this game. We know they’re a great team, and Engle is probably one of the best players we’ll play against. So it’s a big win, and we’re really excited to move forward from this point.”

Tyrone started the game off slow missing shots and looking a step behind the Lady Hornets. After going down by ten after just three minutes into the game coach Luke Rhoades was forced to call timeout. The Lady Eagles responded and closed the gap as the half came to a close, but after a few missed Tyrone shots in the final minute, JV walked into the locker rooms with a 26-19 lead.

The Tyrone defesnse came out strong after the half, not allowing a Lady Hornet basket for the the first two minutes of the second half. Senior Alexis Cannistraci and Junior Emily Lehman sunk a few quick buckets to bring the Lady Eagles back to within three points 23-26, forcing Juniata Valley coach Rachelle Hopsicker to call a timeout.

“I think they honed in on (Sydney) Reed and Halee Smith. That’s the beauty of our team,” coach Hopsicker said. “When they try and shut someone else down, we have three other people that can fill the spot, and I think we do a good job of finding each other for that.

That timeout sparked an 8-3 run Juniata Valley who would go up 34-26. The Lady Eagles stormed right back however narrowing the gap to just four, 36-32 right before the fourth quarter after Sydney Shaw went baseline for the layup. Shaw finished with 13 the second most on the team only behind senior Kasey Engle who finished with 15.

The Lady Hornets outscored Tyrone 15-10 in the fourth and went home with their first victory over Tyrone in the past three years.

“Basketball is a game of momentum. We had it there, something happened that didn’t swing our way, and once they had it, we couldn’t get it back,” Rhoades said. “We have to finish. We have to finish plays around the basket. We didn’t finish early in the game, and again, it goes back to momentum. If you finish those plays early, the momentum goes back.”

JUNIATA VALLEY (51): S. Reed 0 0-2 0, Taylor 6 0-1 14, Leidy 2 10-10 14, Smith 3 0-0 6, Mattas 8 1-2 7, Jefferies 0 0-0 0. Totals – 19 11-15 51.

TYRONE (42): Kosoglow 2 0-0 4, Ronan 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Engle 5 4-4 15, Cannistraci 4 0-0 8, Shaw 4 2-2 13, Lehman 1 0-0 2. Totals – 16 6-6 42.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Juniata Valley    13 13 10 15 — 51

Tyrone    7 12 13 10 — 42

3-point field goals:

Juniata Valley 2 (Taylor 2);

Tyrone 4 (Shaw 3, Engle).

Records:

Juniata Valley (7-2);

Tyrone (8-3).

Junior Varsity

Tyrone 52   Juniata Valley 22.

High scorers–Kelsey Johnson (Tyrone) 20

Lexi Reed (Juniata Valley) 10.