By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – Friday was a total team effort for the MIfflin County girls basketball team as they hosted an 8-2 Mechanicsburg team at the Dawg Pound.

The Lady Huskies gave their fans quite the show as they topped the Wildcats 55-37 to improve their record to a 6-5 mark.

“This was a really quality team win against a good team. I know they said they were young but these kids have been playing together for a long time and they were 8-2 coming into the game, I think..So that’s a quality team win,” said MIfflin County coach Aaron Gingrich. “This was probably one of best games this year. We had one small lapse in the second quarter where we fouled too much and we didn’t get back in conversion. But other than that is was a very good team win and we got contributions from everybody.”

Sisters Marissa and Maelyn Gingrich lit it up from beyond the 3-point line as both netted five triples.

Marissa finished with a game-high 20 and a 10-rebound effort while Maelyn wasn’t far behind as well posting 17.

But it would also be their teammates that also shined in different areas of the game.

In the rebound department MIfflin County doubled Mechanicsburg on the boards by 36 to 18 margin. Marissa Gingrich led the team with her 10 but teammates Amelia Leister and Aija Binder finished with a 7-and 6-rebound performance, respectively.

Mifflin County was stingy inside the paint on defense, keeping the Wildcats out of the paint for much of the evening. The Huskies were able to finish with four blocks.

It would also be a contest that all of the MIfflin County players would get quality minutes and they made the most of the time.

Defensively, Binder and Jacee Cunningham were forced to be reckoned with as both forced the Wildcats to change their penetration and were able to make them force the ball outside the paint and challenging them to shoot the long ball.

Leister was also fearless as she drove the lanes on numerous plays which helped to open up the outside perimeter shooting of both Gingrichs. She finished with six as did Cunningham.

In the first quarter, the Huskies moved out to an early lead starting on a 9-2 run. In that run, Marissa Gingrich had five and Binder had four.

Mechanicsburg would cut it to a 9-5 lead as Maci Yanoski would hit from beyond the 3-point line at 2:40.

But the Huskies would finish out the quarter on a 4-0 run to take the 8-point lead with them into the second on buckets by Cunningham and Maelyn Gingrich.

The Wildcats started to get its offense going a little in the second as it was able to outscore MIfflin County by a slim 12-11 margin.

It highlighting the quarter for MIfflin County were two 3-point shots from Maelyn Gingrich and a triple by Marissa.

It was still the Huskies game as the two went into the halftime with MIfflin County leading 24-17.

The momentum started to get back on the side of “the Purple and Black Attack” as the posted a 21-point period while keeping the Wildcats to only 12, making it a 45-29 lead going into the final stanza.

That would be all the MIfflin County would need to hold onto the victory as they outlasted Mechanicsburg 10-8 in the period securing the 55-37 victory.

In the JV contest, the Huskies were just as successful winning 53-46.

Mifflin County 55, Mechanicsburg 37

ME    5 12 12  8 – 37

MC 13 11 21 10 – 55

Scoring: Mechanicsburg – Maci Yanoski 3 1-3 8, Gracen Nutt 2 0-1 4, Priya Loran 2 0-0 6, Lauren Leno 2 2-2 6, Alaina Sweet 3 3-4 10, Jada Lacey 1 0-0 3. Totals 13 6-10 37. MIfflin County – Marissa Gingrich 6 3-4 20, Amelia Leister 2 2-3 6, Aija Binder 1 2-2 4, Jacee Cunningham 3 0-0 6, Gracen Haines 1 0-0 2, Maelyn  6 0-0 17. Totals 19 7-9 55.

Played but didn’t score: Mechanicsburg – Sheree Huber 0 0-0 0, Dani Klinger 0 0-0 0. MIfflin County – Riley Hine 0 0-0 0, Rylee Retherford 0 0-0 0, MacKenzie Peachey 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Bodley  0 0-0 0, Tressie Bender 0 0-0 0,

Three-point shots: Mechanicsburg – Yanoski, Loran 2, Sweet, Lacey. Mifflin County – Marissa Gingrich 5, Maelyn Gingrich 5.