The Lady Eagles sadly finished up their season with a 42-38 loss to Neshannock at Northern Allegheny on Friday March 8th.

The Lady Eagles knew they had a tough matchup going into the game, but battled the whole way until the end.

Freshman Stephanie Ramsey had a team-high of 12 points for Tyrone, while Jaida Parker, also a freshman, finished with eight. Junior Lindsay Fusco added seven points.

The Lady Lancers used their rebounding prowess to manufacture extra chances in the second half.

“Their half-court defense is top-notch, but their rebounding in the second half was the difference in the game,” head coach Luke Rhoades said.

Second shots and rebounds are really what hurt the Lady Eagles’ chances, Rhoades feels.

“We wanted to get in there and compete and we thought we did a good job defensively in the first half. Really, we did a good job defensively in the second half, too, but we just didn’t rebound the ball. Rebounds and second shots really killed us. That’s the bottom line — they were tough inside. I bet we gave up 12 points in the second half on second shots. That really hurt our chances.”

Losing in the first round of state playoffs has been a recurring event for the Lady Eagles. They have not won a state playoff game in over 20 years.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump. That seems to be our deal the last couple of years. We are right there with teams and right there with the best teams on our schedule, but we just can’t get over that hump,” said Rhoades.

Despite the 3 loss streak to end Tyrone’s 2018-2019 schedule, the Lady Eagles had a great overall season, finishing with a 18-8 winning record.

On the flip side, they were not able to meet some of the goals that they set at the beginning, including winning the Mountain League, a District 6 metal, or a state playoff game.

“It was a great senior season, but I was disappointed that I couldn’t win a district title or state playoff game,” said Shaw.

Tyrone will only lose three seniors: record-breaker Sydney Shaw, team leader Reilly Ronan, and defensive powerhouse Brooke Welsh.

Tyrone looks to get to work right away in order to come back better than ever next year and make sure that they can meet the goals they set.

“We have a lot of work to do. District 6 basketball is tough and girls basketball is some of the best in the state,” Rhoades said. “We’ll see how the offseason goes. We can’t sit around and sob about this too long because other teams are already out working and getting better.”

Box Score

TYRONE (38): Ramsey 3 5-5 12, Parker 3 0-0 8, Fusco 3 1-4 7, Ronan 1 0-0 2, Sy. Shaw 2 0-0 5, Sh. Shaw 1 0-0 2, Getz 0 2-2 2, Welsh 0 0-0 0. Totals — 13 8-11 38.

NESHANNOCK (42): Nogay 5 2-3 14, George 3 3-4 9, Burrelli 3 4-5 10, DeLillo 0 0-0 0, Dean 1 0-0 3, Fehrs 2 0-0 4, DeMatteo 1 0-0 2. Totals — 15 9-12 42.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone 6 8 7 17 — 38

Neshannock 7 11 11 13 — 42

3-point goals: Tyrone 4 (Parker 2, Ramsey, Sy. Shaw); Neshannock 3 (Nogay 2, Dean).

Records: Tyrone (18-8); Neshannock (24-2).