The Tyrone Lady Eagles won their eighth straight game with a 44-33 victory over the 2-10 Bedford Lady Bison on Tuesday, January 20, but the game was more competitive than Tyrone head coach Luke Rhoades had anticipated.

“We’re not mentally into anything,” Tyrone head coach Luke Rhoades told the Altoona Mirror after the game, “I guess that’s my fault, and I need to get them regrouped. All in all, mentally we weren’t ready to go, and that bothers me.”

Bedford was thinking upset as they outscored Tyrone 11-10 in the first quarter.

“Our team is having trouble coming out with energy against teams we are ‘supposed’ to beat,” said sophomore Kasey Engle, who led the Eagles with a game high 21 points.

“Thankfully we came out with a win,” said Engle, “If we don’t change our attitudes for future games, then that won’t be the same case.”

Tyrone stepped up a bit in the second quarter and ended the half with a narrow 21-17 lead.

After another slow starting third quarter, Finnley Christine and Kasey Engle hit back-to-back 3-pointers allowing Tyrone to have a 37-24 lead at the end of the third.

Lindsey Kemp had 10 rebounds for Tyrone, who played without Alexis Cannistraci, who was injured in the Eagles last game versus Claysburg.

“It was a very sluggish game. We played with no energy and let a team, that shouldn’t even be able to play with us, in the game,” said Christine. “We need to refocus and get ready for the rest of the week, we have a game Friday that will make or break our season.”

The Lady Bison hit a 3-pointer to start off the fourth quarter, and closed the gap to 5 points, but two of their starters, Allison Shuke and Katie Querry fouled out in the final minute.

The Lady Eagles made 7 of 10 free throws late to finally put the game out of reach for the Lady Bison.

Box Scores

TYRONE (44): Lehman 0 1-2 1, Kemp 3 0-0 6, Christine 3 3-6 11, Engle 5 7-8 21, Sprankle 0 0-2 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Noll 2 1-3 5, Mountz 0 0-0 0. Totals – 13 12-21 44.

BEDFORD (33): Koontz 3 1-2 7, Thomas 2 0-0 4, Shuke 3 5-11 11, Ooghe 3 1-2 8, Fuller 1 1-2 3, Querry 0 0-0 0, Klinger 0 0-0 0. Totals – 12 8-17 33.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone: 10 11 16 7 – 44

Bedford: 11 6 7 9 – 33

3-point goals: Tyrone 6 (Engle 4, Christine 2); Bedford 1 (Ooghe).

Records: Tyrone (10-4); Bedford (2-11).