Mifflin County 53, Central Mountain 49

MC 10 17 14 12 – 53

CM 17  4  10 18 – 49

Scoring: MC –  Peyton Weaver 5 3-3 15, Jalee Bodtorf 2 0-0 6, Maelyn Gingrich 1 0-0 3, Jayda Kanagy 3 1-2 8, Malaina Maxwell 2 0-0 4, Leah Reed 1 3-6 5, Mackenzie Peachey 3 6-12 12. Totals 17 13-23 51. CM –   Elisa McKean 0 3-4 3, Macy Plowman 1 1-2 3, Camdyn Weaver 3 5-6 11, Lena Walker 3 2-4 10, Taylor Doyle 3 2-2 8, Ava Doyle 3 4-7 10, Jacey Tripp 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 17-25 49.

Played but didn’t score: MC –  Ava Baker 0 0-0 0, Ciara Williams 0 0-0 0. CM –  Alaina Carnchari 0 0-0 0, Morgan Davis 0 0-0 0. .

Three – point shots: MC –    Weaver 2, Gingrich, Kanagy Bodtorf 2. CM –   Walker 2.

By Kenny Varner

MILL HALL – Going the distance!

Two non-league teams went head-to-head Monday at the Central Mountain gym as the Lady Wildcats  hosted the MIfflin County Huskies in basketball action.

This one was not for the faint of heart as a winner would not be until the final buzzer.

But when the dust settled after the final buzzer the MIfflin County squad held onto a 53-49 victory, evening their record to .500 on the season.

But it would be a spirited late game effort by the Wildcats that won’t quickly be forgotten.

“We haven’t really seen zone defense this year. It took us a very long time to adjust. It took us to long to figure out how to attack a zone. But we didn’t figure it out until there was four minutes left in the game, said Central Mountain coach Scott Baker. “So, finally found a way of getting it inside a little bit and not just shoot threes. Top little too late. Too many fouls. Too many fouls tonight. That put us in a situation where we had players with three fouls and two fouls that kept us doing things we needed to do to be successful.”

Trailing 41-31 to open the final stanza, the Wildcats continued to pull down clutch rebounds and muscle their way inside the lane.

Taylor Doyle got her team scoring started as she broke the Huskies zone and was all alone underneath for the lay up.

On the following Huskies possession, Central Mountain forced a turnover and was able to find a a wide open Jacey Tripp under the basket. With the Tripp bucket, Central Mountain had cut the Huskies lead to 41-35.

Mifflin County slowed its offense up and worked the ball around the key taking precious time off the clock.

When the Lady Huskies got the ball around to a wide open Malaina Maxwell.  She was clutch posting an easy shot underneath as well.

On the following Huskies’ possession, Maxwell got the call once again as she stood just inside the three-point line and posted a long jumper for two.

With the two Husky buckets, the Huskies put the lead back to 10 with 5:55 left.

From there the Wildcats defense stiffened, putting pressure on the Huskies offense.

Central Mountain muscled their way to a hard fought 5-0 run.

Leena Walker hit a jumper and made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Teammate Camdyn Weaver was clutch at the free throw line making 2-of-2, cutting things to a 45-40 contest.

But the Lady Huskies continued to answer the call when needed.

MC put the game back up to a 7-point lead when Payton Weaver hit 2-of-2 from the foul line.

With Leah Reed hit 1-of-2, the Huskies were back up by eight with 1:28.

On the following Central Mountain possession, Elisa McKean cut the lead back to six, going a perfect 2-for-2 after stepping to the foul line.

With the time quickly running out, the Wildcats were forced to foul. The Wildcats fouled and cut the lead to 51-46 with 32.8 ticks left in the clock.

But a triple by Walker, cut things to 51-49.

But with the last possession of the game, the Huskies were able to hit the late bucket to preserve the hard fought victory.

The Wildcats got the game started with a dominating display of rebounding in the opening period, outscoring the Lady Huskies 17-10.

But MIfflin County rallied back in the second as its defense held Central Mountain to only four points while its offense exploded for 17.

Leading the scoring in the quarter was Kanagy with seven.

Coming out of the intermission, both teams played it close as the Huskies outscored Central Mountain 14-10 sending the game into the final period.

Central Mountain out rebounded MIfflin County 31-22.

Scoring-wise MIfflin County’s Peyton Weaver led all scorers with 15.

Teammate Mackenzie Peachey followed up with 12.

Central Mountain was led by Weaver’s 11-point effort.