Photo by Bob Hockenbrock
By Kenny Varner

COCOLAMUS – The battle for bragging rights.

Saturday, the Juniata girls renewed acquaintances with fellow Juniata County rival East Juniata.

Early on the two became entrenched in a back-and-forth battle, as fans were treated to quite a strong early performance by both teams.

But eventually the veteran and depth filled Indians were too much for the young and upcoming Tigers. In the end, the Lady Indians took home the 60-29 victory.

“We played with heart and we wanted to win this game. Obviously, the cross town rivalry is strong. I’m fortunate to have known about the Lewistown/Indians Valley rivalry. But it’s nice to be a part of the Juniata/East Juniata rivalry,” said Juniata head coach Hannah Geedy. “Our girls had fire and they were ready to come out and play strong and they did that.”

Mylee Landis was the high scorer in the contest, posting a 25-point effort. Landis exploded with shots in transition, runners in the lane and a stop and pop shot from the foul line. She finished with a double double on the night also posting 10 rebounds in the win.

Teammate Regan Lowrey finished with 13.

Rounding out, the high scorers for Juniata was Reagan Burd with 12. Burd gutted out an early turned ankle and an unintentional hit in the jaw to finish in double digits.

On the East Juniata side of the scoring column the team was led by Landyn Cramer who finished the game with 10 points.

East Juniata pulled down 25 rebounds while the Indians got 24.

“I thought we battled. We fought hard especially in the first half we hung close with them ,” said East Juniata head coach Laurel Amey. “We got down 10 points early and we battled back to get in it. We fought. I thought we fought from start to finish.”

Offensively, the Indians were able to get off to a sizzling start, posting a 9-0 advantage.

Burd hit her first shot after taking a rebound and put it back in the bucket.

On the next possession, the ball went to Landis. Landis hit a jumper, making it a 4-point lead at six minutes left in the first.

Juniata’s full court press worked well, trapping the Tigers on numerous occasions.

The first game with a Juniata four point lead. The Lady Indians were able to pop the ball out to a waiting and open Grace Reinhold standing outside of the three-point line. She made the bucket, putting the lead up to nine still early in the first.

At 4:37 in the first, East Juniata notched their first bucket, Carolyn Dressler pulled up and took the shot cutting it to a 7-point deficit.

But the Lady Indians picked up a Lowrey triple, upping the game to a 10-point advantage with time running down in the period.

The feisty Tigers refused to go away, they were able go on a 7-0 run on buckets by Burd, Kennedy Seigler – Lewis and a trey to Cramer, making it a single digit lead to 12-9 with 2:38 left in the first quarter.

Landis finished the scoring in the 2:12 left to go, taking a 16-9 advantage.

Going into the second, East Juniata continued to battle, cutting the Juniata lead to only two points shortly after the beginning of the second.

Lewis continued to battle as she hit a triple for the first bucket of the half.

Forcing a Juniata turnover in the next possession, Cramer came big underneath and was able to cut it to a 16-14 Juniata advantage.

But the Indians had a reaction to every Tigers actions.

Landis got the call on the two next possessions and did not disappoint, giving the Lady Indians a little more breathing room at 20-14.

With the bucket, East Juniata called a time out to regroup.

After the time out, the Tigers responded with a bucket by Snyder.

However, “Big Red” finished off the period on a 13-2 run.

From there, the Juniata defense clamped down even harder in the final two periods.

In the second half, the Lady Indians outscored the Tigers 27 to 11, giving themselves the 60-29 victory.