Bellwood-Antis girls basketball coach Nick Lovrich was looking for his Lady Blue Devils to get a win at home against the Glendale Lady Vikings. The B-A girls had lost three games in a row, all on the road to teams,, with a combined 49-10 record (Penns Valley 14-5, Claysburg-Kimmel 18-2 and Bishop Guilfoyle 17-3) and coach Lovrich was hopping Glendale (6-14) might be a little softer opponent.
The Lady Blue Devils turned up the defense and got big contributions on both ends of the court from their two 6-foot post players, Steph Hatch and Lauren Carter to win big 58-29 and get back on the winning track.
“It was good to get back on the winning track after three losses in a row,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich. “The kids did well defensively, we held them to 29 points.”
The game began slowly with Bellwood-Antis jumping out in front 4-0 on field goals by Jamie Smith and Carter, but the lady Vikings came right back to tie the game at 4-4 and even took a short-lived 8-6 advantage with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
That would be the last Glendale lead. The Lady Blue Devils went on a 13-0 run to end the opening period and start the second to push out to a 21-8 lead. Hatch, who scored 20 points to lead all scorers and now needs just eight points to reach the 1,000 points mark for her Bellwood-Antis career, began the run by drilling a trey, and Carter, who finished with a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds added a basket to get the B-A girls off and running. Several Glendale turnovers were converted into Bellwood-Antis points on fast breaks. Hatch and Carter each hit a basket to end the first quarter with Bellwood-Antis holding a 15-8 lead.
Jenna Ralston tossed in her only bucket of the game to begin the second quarter and Carter and Hatch added a pair of free throws each before a Tiffany Twigg foul shot halted the 13-0 run B-A. Carter threw in a basket and a foul shot, Hatch another three-pointer and a regular bucket, Jamie Smith pumped in a bucket and Lindsey Claar added another with 1:42 left in the half to lengthen the Bellwood-Antis lead to 33-11.
In the third quarter, Carter began the parade with a basket and Hatch hit a basket and two foul shots to give the B-A girls a 40-16 advantage. Sara McGarvey hit a basket for the Lady Vikings, but Bellwood-Antis kept on rolling with a putback by Carter, and trey by Smith, before Glendale scored the final three points of the quarter to go into the fourth stanza with the Lady Blue Devils up 45-21.
Hatch opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back down the court fast break baskets and the two teams played the remaining portion of the quarter even. Carter, Allison Sinisi and Brittany Webb hit baskets and Chelsea Young fired in a trey to help the Lady Blue Devils double up their opponents 58-29.
Steph Hatch broke her own record again for the third time this year with 11 blocks, in addition to coming to within eight points of 1,000 and Carter pulled down 11 rebounds.
“Our two post players (Hatch and Carter) have really been coming for the last three games,” said Lovrich. “They have really done well, both rebounding offensively and defensively, scoring, Steph broke the school record again for most blocked shots with 11. Lauren has just been so consistent, she pulls her 10 or 11 rebounds and scores in double digits in points.”
The busy week continues for the Bellwood-Antis girls today when the Lady Blue Devils host Everett and then on Thursday when Juniata Valley comes to Bellwood.
Junior varsity
The Glendale junior varsity defeated Bellwood-Antis 28-12 in the early game.
Brittany Webb led the B-A junior varsity with seven points and Chelsea Young added the other five points. Shalee Hunter pulled down 10 rebounds and Jessica parson added five boards.
Tiffany Twigg led Glendale with nine points and Tara Dick and Kristen Gates had six points each.
Bellwood-Antis 58 Glendale 29
Glendale – Laing 0 2-5 2, McGarvey 3 1-2 7, Morrison 3 3-4 9, McQuown 3 0-1 6, Budzinski 0 0-0 0, Matthews 0 2-2 2, Heverly 0 0-0 0, Kutruff 0 0-0 0, Twigg 0 1-2 1, Kovach 0 0-0 0, Gates 1 0-0 2, Dick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 10 9-16 29.
Bellwood-Antis – Claar 1 1-2 3, Hatch 7 4-4 20, Ralston 1 0-0 2, Sinisi 2 0-04, Carter 8 3-4 19, Smith 2 0-0 5, Webb 1 0-0 2, Young 1 0-0 3, Myers 0 0-0 0, Hunter 0 0-0 0, Parson 0 0-0 0, Mortimore 0 0-0 0, Riley 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 8-10 58.
Score by Quarters
Glendale 8 8 5 8 -29
Bellwood-Antis 15 19 11 13 -58
Three point goals: Glendale none.
Bellwood-Antis 4 (Hatch 2, Smith 1, Young 1).
