Bellefonte junior Kristin Irwin isn’t your average varsity basketball player.
At six feet tall, she can handle the ball as well as most conventional guards, finish and distribute on the break, and bang inside with the best posts in the Mountain Athletic Conference.
But in three years as a starter for the Lady Raiders, Irwin had looked rather mediocre against the Lady Eagles, averaging just 7.6 points per game in six games.
She changed that last night at the Bellefonte Area High School gymnasium. In her final game against Tyrone this season, Irwin put on display the talent that made her a third-team MAC all-star as a sophomore, scoring a game-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds as the Lady Raiders defeated Tyrone 57-42.
“That’s the best we’ve seen Irwin play,” said Tyrone coach Jim Swaney. “She was much more aggressive getting to the basket and looking for her shot.”
It was Irwin’s play that, for the most part, dictated how the Lady Raiders performed against Tyrone. Steady point guard Ellen Kolos was in and out of the line-up most of the game with foul problems, leaving the burden of making Bellefonte’s offense run squarely on the shoulders of Irwin.
It was pressure she wasn’t about to buckle under.
Irwin scored 16 points in the first half alone, when the Lady Raiders were able to blow open a relatively close game into a 32-16 halftime advantage. She scored seven of her team’s first eight points in the second quarter, allowing Bellefonte to build a 20-11 lead by the 4:14 mark. But after a three-point play by Hilary McNelis and an Ashley Roth foul shot, Tyrone had cut the lead to five points and was on the verge of getting back into the game.
Irwin responded by scoring five of Bellefonte’s next eight points, while leading scorer Megan Farrington came alive to dump in five points in the last 45 seconds of the half.
Irwin scored eight more in the third and got the first basket of the fourth to put the Lady Raiders ahead by 20 at 49-29.
But while Irwin was making plays Tyrone had never seen her make before, the Lady Eagles were going too many offensive possessions without making a play at all. Tyrone scored just two field goals in the first quarter, and leading scorer Hilary McNelis wasn’t able to get on the board until the midway point of the second period.
On six different occasions, Tyrone went two minutes or more without connecting on a shot from the field.
However, when the Lady Eagles got into their half-court offense, they ran it with as much rhythm as they’ve shown all season. McNelis ended the game with 15 points, most of which came at the end of well-run offensive sets on feeds inside.
Emily McKenna added 11 for Tyrone.
The loss dropped the Lady Eagles to 3-14 overall and 0-3 in the MAC second cycle. It was Tyrone’s third consecutive loss and the fourth time this season the Lady Eagles have dropped at least three straight.
Bellefonte improved to 9-7 overall and 1-1 in the MAC.
HOOP NOTES: Tyrone turned the ball over 18 times. Bellefonte coughed it up 14 times….Farrington finished with 11 points…. McNelis grabbed nine boards.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tyrone led 13-8 after the first quarter and trailed by just three at halftime, but scored just eight points in the second half as Bellefonte defeated the Lady Eagles 41-29.
Sharon Long led Tyrone with eight points and combined with Tiffany Bradford to grab 18 rebounds.
VARSITY
Bellefonte 57 Tyrone 42
TYRONE – McNelis 6 3-3 15; McKenna 4 2-2 11; Ingle 0 1-2 1; Lloyd 2 3-5 7; Roth 2 1-2 5; Hoover 0 0-0 0; Wallace 0 1-2 1; Long 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 8-16 42.
BELLEFONTE – Kr. Irwin 11 4-6 26; Farrington 5 1-5 11; Proper 0 0-0 0; Kolos 0 3-4 3; Clouser 3 3-6 9; Holter 0 0-0 0; McWilliams 2 0-0 5; Ka. Irwin 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 23 12-23 57.
Score by Quarters
TYRONE 4 12 13 13 – 42
BELLEFONTE 12 20 15 10 – 57
Three point goals: Tyrone 1 (McKenna 1).
Bellefonte 1 (McWilliams 1).
JUNIOR VARSITY
Bellefonte 41 Tyrone 27
TYRONE – Bradford 2 1-4 5; Hoover 0 0-2 0; Long 3 0-3 8; Roth 2 0-0 4; Lloyd 1 2-2 4; Glace 0 1-2 1; Walker 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 4-13 27.
BELLEFONTE – McWilliams 2 0-0 4; Stewart 2 0-0 4; Lenhart 2 1-2 5; Lucas 3 0-0 6; Clouser 3 0-0 6; Proper 6 1-2 16; Haslet 0 0-0 0; Gardner 0 0-0 0; Yearick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 2-4 41.
Score by Quarters
TYRONE 13 6 5 3 – 27
BELLEFONTE 8 14 9 10 – 41
3-POINT GOALS: Tyrone 2 (Long 2)
Bellefonte 3 (Proper 3).
