Photo by Jeff Shomo
By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – Defense took center stage Friday night when the Philipsburg-Osceola girls basketball team traveled to  Bald Eagle Area High school to go up against a spunky Lady Eagle squad.

Both defenses played tough throughout but it would a stifling defensive effort in the fourth by Eagles that would send them home winners of a 31-22 Laurel Highlands victory.

“The defense was suffocating. Like I said before that’s going to be our new offense going forward. We had a lot of freshmen that stepped up tonight,” said Bald Eagle coach Michael Habovick. “We had a lot of girls period step up.”

Leading the offensive effort by Kinsey Clark with 13 points.

Olivia Taylor dropped 10 rebounds.

Despite being outsized by the Mounties, the Eagles out rebounded PO 32 -30.

Offensively, the Mounties got 16 points from sharpshooter Lily Warlow. She also pulled down seven rebounds.

Emily Gutskey finished in double digits rebounds with 11.

Heading into the final stanza,  the Eagles led 26-19.

With both teams clamping down on defense, the pressure increased with each possession.

Coming in out of the quarter, Warlow opened the scoring with a triple at the 6:48 mark.

Things would get physical as well.

Playing with three fouls, Bald Eagles Taylor Habovick was the victim of a double foul call with PO’s Warlow as the two got entangled.

But that would not stop the aggressiveness of either team. Neither team was able to score a bucket as the time wound down to the 3-minute mark.

Bald Eagles forced PO to foul and put themselves on the foul line.

With 3:14 left in the contest, Lydia Walk went to the line but could not add onto the lead as both shots rimmed in and out.

A minute later, the Lady Mounties had a chance to cut into the Eagles’ lead when Warlow was fouled going for the triple.

But the Mounties couldn’t gain any ground, 26-22.

Bald Eagle broke onto the scoreboard for the first time in the fourth when Charolette Gavlock hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 1:10 left.

On the following Bald Eagle possession Gabby Perry was perfect at the line, upping the home team’s lead to 29-22 with 48 seconds. Perry was a perfect 8-for-8 on the night.

Clark stood tall in the final seconds as she blocked Warlow as she attempted a shot. Then she followed with a clutch rebound moments later.

She helped ice things when she was able to notch a late steal and had the ball hit out of bounds by Philipsburg-Osceola. The Eagles were able to run out the clock and clinch the victory.

Offensively, the Eagles started off the contest with the first two scores.

Clark hit the opening basket, hitting a runner in the lane.

On the following Bald Eagle possession, Jordan Williams scored on an offensive rebound and put back, making it a 4-0 contest.

Warlow started to sizzle as she hit her team’s next five points giving her team a 7-4 advantage.

Habovick cut the Mounties lead to one with 2:34 left in the first.

Gutskey extended the Philipsburg-Osceola lead as she hit one-of-two from the charity stripe, making it 8-6 at the end of one.

From there, the Eagles muscled their way back onto outscoring the Mounties 14-6 to go into the intermission leading 20-14.

The two battled in the third as the Eagles held their lead outscoring PO 6-5.

Bald Eagle Area is back in action Monday, hosting East Juniata.

Bald Eagle Area 31, Philipsburg- Osceola 22

PO     8   6 5 3 – 22

BEA   6 14 6 5 – 31

Scoring: PO –   Maddy Malinich 1 0-0 3, Lily Warlow 6 0-4 16, Emily Gustkey 0 1-2 1, Ashlyn Warner 1 0-0 2. Totals 8 1-6 22. BEA – Charlotte Gavlock 0 2-4 2, Kinsey Clark 5 2-4 13, Lydia Walk 1 0-2 2, Gabbie Perry  0 8-8 8, Taylor Habovick 2 0-0 4, Addison Mottin 1 0-0 2. Totals 9 12-18 31.

Played but didn’t score: PO –   Kaycie Hughes 0 0-0 0, Kaelin Wagner 0 0-0 0, Olivia Gallagher 0 0-0 0, Bella Minarchick 0 0-0 0. BEA – Olivia Taylor 0 0-0 0, Jaysa Smith 0 0-0 0.

Three-Point shots: PO –   Malinich, Warlow 3. BEA – Clark.