Against Philipsburg-Osceola last night, the Tyrone girls basketball team was like an animal caught in quicksand: the harder the Lady Eagles tried to put P-O away, the more they choked on their own mistakes.
\nTyrone did its best to keep Philipsburg-Osceola in the game, from throwing the ball away against the Lady Mounties\u2019 press to pulling up for deep three-pointers on the fast break while nursing a lead. Fortunately for the Lady Eagles, senior Kayla Corle almost single-handedly snuffed out the Lady Mounties\u2019 effort with what may have been the most influential 60 seconds of her career.
\nWith P-O nipping at Tyrone\u2019s heals, down 58-53 after a 5-0 run cut in half a double-digit lead, Corle nailed a three-point basket at the 2:55 mark of the fourth quarter, sparking a 12-0 run in which she scored 10.
\nThe Lady Eagles went on to win 73-62, snapping a losing streak that had grown to nine frustrating games. Corle finished with a game-high 20, including three treys.
\nShe was one of four Lady Eagles to reach double-figure scoring, putting a highlight on a game where Tyrone coach Luke Rhoades saw only a few positives.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the balance we need,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re still searching for someone who can provide it every night. We don\u2019t have a superstar that can score 20 every night, so we need points from everyone.\u201d
\nUnfortunately, the highs just about ended there for Rhoades, who recognized after the game that a performance like last night\u2019s might not do against most teams in the Mountain League.
\n\u201cThere were points where we played well,\u201d he said. \u201cDefensively, we have to play a lot better. We\u2019ve got to improve in almost every aspect of the game. I think we actually practice harder than we play. We\u2019ve got to learn to come out and play with the same intensity we show in practice.\u201d
\nIt sure didn\u2019t look like the way Rhoades had drawn it up, especially when the Lady Eagles were being shredded in the second quarter for 21 points against their man-to-man package.
\nNor was it any better in the fourth when, with his team ahead by double-digits, the Lady Eagles turned the ball over nine times and shot just 4-for-13 from the floor, missing eight of their first nine attempts.
\n\u201cWe need someone who is going to step up and give us a spark,\u201d said Rhoades. \u201cWe\u2019re missing that right now. It\u2019s almost like we\u2019re fiv‑e individuals out there sometimes. We need someone we can rally around.\u201d
\nBut despite all of Tyrone\u2019s problems, it was a win nonetheless, one that was a long time in coming. The Lady Eagles\u2019 last victory was more than a month ago, on December 6, when they defeated Bald Eagle Area 63-60 in Wingate.
\nAlong with Corle, senior Lindsey Christine scored 17 points, Rachel Emigh added 14 and Kassie Faretta chipped in 10. Each player put up points in spurts, giving the Lady Eagles much needed boosts at key periods in the game.
\nIn the first quarter, it was Emigh scoring seven points, including Tyrone\u2019s first two baskets, as the Lady Eagles built a 17-10 lead.
\nIn the second, when Tyrone\u2019s defense went haywire, Christine scored 10 points over the last four minutes of the half to help the Lady Eagles maintain a seven-point lead (38-31).
\nThe Lady Eagles\u2019 problem was defending Taylor Harpster, and rotating back down the floor in transition. Harpster, who led P-O with 18 points, hit a pair of threes in the second quarter and finished the half with 12. Meanwhile, Megan Yushonis and Alexis Cartwright combined for three breakaway lay ups against Tyrone\u2019s pressure.
\nTyrone\u2019s defensive struggles created an interesting halftime for the Lady Eagles.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t even say anything. We just did feet shopping and worked on moving our feet in the locker room,\u201d said Rhoades. \u201cThat\u2019s how bad our defense was.\u201d
\nTyrone threatened to pull away in the third quarter with a 10-4 run, sparked by a three-pointer and a hoop in transition by Faretta, to make it 54-43. But the Lady Mounties scored the last five points of the quarter to keep it close at 54-48.
\nThe Lady Mounties continued to cut into Tyrone\u2019s lead in the fourth, coming within five after a steal and a score by Chelsea Rex with 3:19 to play. That was when Corle re-entered the game after sitting out three minutes with four fouls.
\nThings changed immediately, with Corle hitting a three on her first shot attempt, just 20 seconds after returning to the floor.
\nFor the next three minutes, Corle became the spark Rhoades would allude to later.
\nJunior Varsity
\nThe Lady Eagles dropped the junior varsity game to P-O 60-30 despite 13 points from Paris Harden.
\nTyrone 73 Philipsburg-Osceola 62
\nPHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA \u2013 Rex, 1 0-0 2; Wilson 2 0-0 4; Harpster 7 2-3 18; Cartwright 6 4-5 17; Miller 3 2-2 9; Patrick 3 0-0 6; Yushonis 3 0-4 6. TOTALS: 25 8-14 62.
\nTYRONE \u2013 Christine 5 6-8 17; Corle 6 5-9 20; Faretta 3 3-4 10; Garbinsky 1 3-5 6; Emigh 5 4-6 14; Hawes 2 0-4 4; Harden 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 22 23-36 73.
\nScore by Quarters
\nPhilipsburg-Osceola 10 21 17 14 \u2013 62
\nTyrone 17 21 15 19 \u2013 73
\nThree-point goals: Tyrone 6 (Corle 3, Garbinsky, Faretta, Christine), Philipsburg-Osceola 3 (Harpster 2, Miller)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Against Philipsburg-Osceola last night, the Tyrone girls basketball team was like an animal caught in quicksand: the harder the Lady Eagles tried to put P-O away, the more they choked on their own mistakes. Tyrone did its best to keep Philipsburg-Osceola in the game, from throwing the ball away against the Lady Mounties\u2019 press to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}