The Bellwood-Antis girls junior high has come a long way. After winning two straight Juniata Valley League championships in 2000 and 2001, the Lady Blue Devils, in a complete rebuilding campaign won just three games the following year for coach Steve Conlon, then were respectable last year going 12-7. Now under Walker, who had been Conlon’s assistant, and having come full circle, Bellwood-Antis nailed down at least a share of the 2004 JVL crown by defeating Juniata Valley 37-15 on Wednesday afternoon.
In defeating the Lady Hornets for the second time in a week, the Bellwood-Antis girls were led by Victoria Lombardo with 10 points and 16 rebounds. Ashley Lechner added eight points for the Lady Blue Devils, Alicia Hippo had seven points and Lauren Lender contributed six points in a balanced attack.
“One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to win the JVL championship,” reported first-year Bellwood-Antis head coach Chris Walker. “We accomplished that today with an impressive win against a Juniata Valley team that we only beat by four points last week. The difference today was defense. Their leading scorer scored 15 points against us last week. We decided to try to play a box-and-one on her today, and I can’t say enough about the tremendous job that Lauren Lender did in holding her to two points. Victoria Lombardo played her best game of the year, scoring 10 points and dominating on the boards with 16 rebounds. We took control of the game by outscoring Juniata Valley 13-0 in fourth quarter. That was the eighth time this year we’ve held a team scoreless for a quarter. We lost Liz Erickson, our leading scorer and rebounder last year, after only seven games. But this group of girls stuck together, played their hearts out, and never used that as an excuse. It was nice to see everyone else step up at different times throughout the year. They will benefit from this experience later in their careers.
The Lady Blue Devils (13-6 overall, 12-2 JVL) conclude their season by hosting the Bishop Guilfoyle junior high girls on today at 4 p.m.
Bellwood-Antis 37 Juniata Valley 15
Bellwood-Antis: Amanda Ingram 4, Lauren Lender 6, Victoria Lombardo 10, Ashley Lechner 8, Alicia Hippo 7, Jenna Nevling 2.
Juniata Valley: Boyd 4, Feagley 2, Cresswell 6, Morgan 3.
