The Tyrone Lady Eagles and the Mercyhurst Prep Lakers last met in March 2020 in the state playoff round of 16. In that game, Tyrone’s roster was young, led by then-sophomore Jaida Parker’s 23 points, while Mercyhurst started a veteran team of juniors and seniors.

Youth beat experience that day as Tyrone punched its ticket to the Elite Eight with a 58-38 victory. Unfortunately, that was the end of the road for the Lady Eagles because three days later the post-season was suspended and later canceled, due to COVID.

This past Saturday Tyrone and Mercyhurst met again at the Tyrone Middle School gym, but this time the roles were reversed.

With everyone back from Tyrone’s 2020 squad except two players, Lindsay Fusco and Shannon Shaw, Tyrone was now the veteran team. By contrast, Mercyhurst Prep, a perennial top-ranked team out of Erie, had an entirely new squad with many underclassmen.

But the result was the same for the Lady Eagles, who put on a show en route to a 59-41 victory.

Tyrone had one other advantage this time around though, home court.

Mercyhurst had to make the three-hour drive from Erie and the Lakers played like a road-weary team.

Tyrone dominated slow-starting Mercyhurst from the start with a balanced scoring attack from their veteran lineup of four starting seniors and a junior.

Senior Stephanie Ramsey scored 16 points and went over the 1,000-point mark with a three-pointer early in the third quarter (see related story).

Junior Kayelin Gibbons also had 16 points, senior Emma Getz added 12, followed by senior Jaida Parker with 11, and senior Marissa Lewis with 4.

Anna Tranum led Mercyhurst Prep with 16 points.

The Lady Eagles started out strong, scoring 12 points and holding Mercyhurst Prep to 1 in the first quarter.

Mercyhurst had trouble keeping up with Tyrone in transition, especially Gibbons, who dominated the paint the 1st half.

The Eagles added 18 in the second while Mercyhurst only added 8. The score was 30-9 going into halftime.

To hold a team that talented to single digits speaks volumes to the Lady Eagles defense.

Throughout the second half, the Eagles pushed their lead even further, including a 45-16 score to end the third quarter.

Mercyhurst did close the gap in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lady Eagles 25-14 when Tyrone began to sub in its bench, but the game was already out of reach for the Lakers.

Box Score

MERCYHURST PREP (41): Ferrick 1 0-0 3, Mangini 1 0-0 2, Ollinger 2 0-0 6, Tranum 6 3-5 16, Kulyk 5 0-0 12, Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Savko 1 0-0 2. Totals — 16 3-5 41.

TYRONE (59): Lewis 1 2-2 4, Ramsey 6 0-0 16, Getz 5 0-0 12, Parker 3 4-5 11, Gibbons 8 0-1 16, Weston 0 0-0 0, Corl 0 0-0 0, Greene 0 0-0 0, Paul 0 0-0 0, Eades 0 0-0 0. Totals — 23 6-8 59.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mercyhurst Prep 1 8 7 25 — 41

Tyrone 12 18 15 14 — 59

3-point goals: Mercyhurst Prep 6 (Ollinger 2, Kulyk 2, Ferrick, Tranum); Tyrone 7 (Ramsey 4, Getz 2, Parker).

Records: Tyrone (16-1).