The Bellwood-Antis Lady Blue Devils rocked the Lady Damsels of Moshannon Valley 52-32 at Moshannon Valley on Monday night to stop a two-game losing streak.
Bellwood-Antis used a 13-0 run to open the game to provide the impetus for a 17-5 first-quarter advantage, then midway through the third quarter after the Mo Valley girls had sliced the B-A lead to just three points, the Lady Blue Devils scored the final 10 points of the quarter and opened up the fourth stanza with eight more points to finish an 18-0 run that pushed the lead from three to 21 before the Damsels outscored Bellwood-Antis 7-6 over the final 3:50 to set the final tally.
Steph Hatch fired in a three-pointer to get the Lady Blue Devils on track early, Lauren Carter hit a basket, Allison Sinisi scored a two-pointer from the corner, Hatch added a pair of free throws and a putback before Jenna Ralston ended the 13-0 streak with a short jumper.
Damsel Molly Rebar stopped the Blue Devils momentum temporarily with a basket and Kalyn Dipko threw in a long trey for the Damsels, but Hatch added a bucket of her own and two more foul shots to close out the first quarter 17-5.
Amy Tomasko, who was the game’s high scorer with 16 points popped in two baskets for Moshannon Valley, and teammate Jordan Cook had her only basket of the game, but Bellwood-Antis countered that with a pair of baskets by Sinisi and a rebound and putback by Carter to earn the Lady Blue Devils a 6-6 draw in the second period and a 23-11 lead to take into the locker room at halftime.
All the Bellwood-Antis girls were able to muster was a Ralston basket, a Sinisi foul shot and a Carter basket in the early portion of the third quarter, while Moshannon Valley, led by two treys and a regular basket by Tomasko, closed the score to 28-25.
Bellwood-Antis, which played excellent pressure defense all game long, forced several mistakes at that point and turning them into points, began a long streak that effectively put the game on ice.
Carter started the run with a basket and a foul shot and Hatch made one of two foul shots and then nailed a trey, followed by a three-pointer from Ralston, that ended the scoring in the third quarter with Bellwood-Antis firmly in the lead, 38-25.
The Lady Blue Devils weren’t quite done yet however. Hatch opened the fourth quarter with a basket and Jamie Smith knocked down back-to-back treys to give B-A a 46-25 advantage, after hitting 18 points in a row over two quarters.
Following a basket by Rebar, Hatch, Carter and Sinisi hit one more bucket each to give the B-A girls a 52-28 lead their largest of the game, before Tomasko closed the game with two last baskets.
“We held them under 40 points,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Nick Lovrich. “That was one of our goals. Sometimes we were close to getting 10-second calls and we forced some turnovers. We made them make some bad decisions. That’s what we need to continue to do -force our opponent to made bad decisions and make good decisions of our own when we are on offense. We did some good things on offense and were real balanced tonight.”
Hatch and Carter led Bellwood-Antis with 15 points each, and with Carter pulling down 15 rebounds and blocking five more shots, and Hatch getting 11 boards and four steals. Steph and Lauren appear to be heating up at the right time with both girls getting double-doubles for the third straight game. The Lady Blue Devils got balanced scoring with Allison Sinisi scoring nine points, Jenna Ralston seven points and Jamie Smith scored six points, had four steals and handed out five assists.
Amy Tomasko scored 16 for Moshannon Valley, but none of her teammates was able to score more than Rebar’s six points.
Bellwood-Antis will play Mount Union next on Thursday. There will be no junior varsity game. The varsity contest will begin at 7 p.m. Then Bellwood-Antis will travel to Bishop Guilfoyle on Saturday with the junior varsity starting at 6 p.m. and varsity at 7:30.
Bellwood-Antis 52 Moshannon Valley 32
Bellwood-Antis – Hatch 5 3-4 15, Ralston 3 0-0 7, Sinisi 4 1-4 9, Carter 6 3-6 15, Smith 2 0-1 6, Claar 0 0-0 0, Webb 0 0-0 0, Young 0 0-0 0, Myers 0 0-0 0, Hunter 0 0-0 0, Parson 0 0-0 0, Riley 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20 7-15 52.
Moshannon Valley – Leskvansky 0 0-0 0, V. Tomasko 2 1-3 5, Rebar 2 1-2 6, A. Tomasko 6 2-2 16, Cook 1 0-0 2, Godin 0 0-0 0, Dipko 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 12 4-9 32.
Score by Quarters
Bellwood-Antis 17 6 15 14 – 52
Moshannon Valley 5 6 14 7 – 32
Three point goals: Bellwood-Antis 5 (Hatch 2, Smith 2, Ralston 1).
Moshannon Valley 4 A. Tomasko 2, Rebar 1, Dipko 1)
