Lady Eagles take control of Mountain League with 50-45 victory over Penns Valley

Engle and Lehman score double digits as the Lady Eagles improve to 11-1.

Christine gets fouled going to the basket.

It’s been a tough week for the Lady Eagles.  After dropping a disappointing double overtime game to Bellwood, they had no time to rest before being thrown back into the fire against another tough league opponent, the Penns Valley Lady Rams.

Fortunately, the Lady Eagles rose to the challenge and took care of business, topping the Lady Rams 50-45.  This puts the Lady Eagles in the driver’s seat of the Mountain League, at least until they face Penns Valley again on February 5.

A great start to the first quarter put the Lady Eagles up 15-4, but turnovers, lack of rebounding, and fouls put the Lady Rams in the game.

“I don’t think we played up to our full potential,” said Engle, “but we stayed calm when it was close and were able to execute.”

Engle scored a game high 28 points while Sophomore Emily Lehman added 10 en route to their 11th victory of the season. Rebounding and defense was key to the Lady Eagle victory; something they have had trouble doing throughout an entire game this season.

We did a great job focusing on defense, recognizing their shooters, and getting out on them,

— Coach Luke Rhoades

“They are a tough team in general. They’re very well coached and play very good defense, said Coach Rhoades, “They give everything they have on every possession and every play, so I’m just glad we came out and took care of what we needed to do.”

With a little over 2:00 to play, the Lady Rams got a steal only putting Tyrone up by one, 46-45. But the Lady Eagles refused to crumble, and were able to hold onto the ball waiting to be fouled. Engle went 4-4 on foul shots in the final minutes of the game while the Eagle defense denied the Lady Rams.

“We did a great job focusing on defense, recognizing their shooters, and getting out on them,” added Rhoades.

As they have been all season, the Lady Eagles were clutch at the line.  Going 12-13 from the stripe, foul shooting was a deciding factor in the game.

The Lady Eagles are back in action tonight with another Mountain League match up as the travel to Philipsburg-Osceola to confront the Lady Mounties (4-6) for round two this season. Tip off is at 7:30.

Box Score

TYRONE (50): Engle 9 8-10 28, Christine 1 2-2 4, Cannistraci 2 0-0 6, Sprankle 1 0-0 2, Lehman 4 2-2 10. Totals – 17 12-14 50.

PENNS VALLEY (45):Ripka 2 0-0 4, Ilgen 4 5-9 13, Beamesderfer 3 0-2 7, Houser 0 1-2 1, Ironside 5 0-1 10, Andrus 0 3-4 3. Totals – 17 10-21 45.

SCORE BY QUARTER

Tyrone                           15   9   11   15– 50

Penns Valley                4    14   14   13– 45

3-point goals: Tyrone 4 (Engle 2, Cannistraci 2); Penns Valley (Beamesderfer)

Records: Tyrone (11-1), Penns Valley (9-4)

 

Junior Varsity: Penns Valley, 36-28. High scorers– Reilly, Brooke, T, 6.