The Lady Eagles opened the 2022 District 6 4A playoffs with a close victory over Central at the Tyrone Middle School gym, 63-53. Central came into the game as the heavy underdog but put up a strong fight against the Lady Eagles.

“[Central came] out firing and throwing everything against the wall at you and you’ve got to be able to get it done, so I have to give my girls credit because there were times when we made some careless mistakes and we could have folded, but they battled back and would make a play,” Tyrone Head Coach Luke Rhoades told the Altoona Mirror after the game.

Tyrone senior Jaida Parker and junior Kayelin Gibbons led all scorers with 19 each, and senior Marissa Lewis added 14. Central was led by Kat Longenecker with 15 points, including a three-point buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter that cut the Tyrone lead to six points.

From start to finish, the Lady Eagles maintained the lead but struggled to put the game away.

Central came out hot and made field goals when they mattered most. But the veteran Eagle team was able to hit shots when they needed them to pull out a victory.

In the fourth quarter, Central cut Tyrone’s lead to 8, but Jaida Parker and Kayelin Gibbons dominated inside and scored 10 points together to help Tyrone hold off the Dragons.

With the win, Tyrone will play Bedford, who beat Central Cambria, in the District Title game on Tuesday. This will be a rematch from last year when the Lady Eagles won 48-41. Both teams have a majority of their players back.

With the win over Central, the Lady Eagles also clinched a spot in the PIAA state tournament. This is the sixth straight year that Tyrone will compete to bring home a state championship trophy from Hershey.

The District Title game is at Mount Aloysius this Tuesday at 6 pm.

BOX SCORE

CENTRAL (53): Johnston 2 2-3 5, Heuston 4 3-4 11, Diehl 1 0-0 3, Longenecker 5 3-4 15, Ellis 1 3-3 5, Rhykerd 2 3-3 7, Decker 3 1-1 7, Dickson 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 15-18 53.

TYRONE (63): Lewis 7 0-3 14, Ramsey 3 1-3 9, Getz 1 0-1 2, Parker 7 3-3 19, Corl 0 0-0 0, Gibbons 9 1-1 19, Paul 0 0-0 0. Totals — 27 5-11 63.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central 13 6 9 15 — 53

Tyrone 19 13 16 15 — 63

3-point goals: Central 3 (Diehl, Longenecker 2); Tyrone 4 (Ramsey 2, Parker 2)