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Bellefonte girls outlast Juniata in season opener

By Kenny Varner

MIFFLINTOWN – Bellefonte delivered a powerful punch in the first quarter by outscoring Juniata 18-15 and continued the pressure the entire game, defeating the Lady Indians in a close 46-41 contest.

The win breaks a 9-game opening season game losing streak.

Juniata battles tough throughout but was never able to overcome the early deficit, despite getting to within four numerous occasions.

Leading the offensively for Bellefonte was Sara DeHaas. DeHaas finished with a double-double finished with 14 points and 11 boards en route to the victory. Teammate Maddie Tice added 10.

Juniata got a game high 15 points from Mackenzie Bennett while Chloe Zendt chipped in 11.

“That’s the style that I’ve waiting for our kids to play for five years,” Bellefonte coach Adam  Gearhart said. “I have the athletes now. We’ve been doing it in the first couple of scrimmages we had. They’ve bought into the press and playing fast and getting out on the fast break. We had very solid play.”

Starting out in a full court press, the Red Raiders opened with a 4-0 run on two offensive rebound and buckets by DeHaas. 

Bennett got Juniata on the board with a long two.

A bucket by Tice put the Lady Raiders up by four again with a inside bucket.

Zendt brought her team to within one as she hit nothing but net on a triple with 5:14 left in the opening period.

However, Bellefonte hit a three of its own, coming from the hands of Maddie Steiner.

From there, Bellefonte continued to roll as it went on a 12-0 run, making it 18-5.

But Juniata shot its way back into the game, ending the quarter going on a 10-0 run to end the first quarter score at 18-15.

Bot defenses dominated the second quarter as the two combined for only five total points in  the period. Bellefonte’s defense was a touch better as it shut out the Indians to take a 23-15 advantage going into the intermission.

Coming out of the half, Juniata battles its way back into the game.

Juniata outscored Bellefonte 16-11 to close in to within striking distance at 34-31. 

The comeback attempt was spearheaded by Zendt, who roped two triples and a field goal in the comeback attempt.

“We dug a hole early. We had a lot of turnovers to start the game. They got out to a six- or eight-point lead. We were able to trim it to three a couple times. We played from behind the entire night,” said Juniata coach Kevin Kodish. “Lots of turnovers early, especially in the first quarter. In the second quarter we didn’t score. If you look at the end of the game we missed a lot of foul shots too and we only lost by five. We have a long season, tonight’s game one and we are going to come back strong tomorrow and give a quality effort and get the “W”.

It was a back and forth momentum shift in the final stanza as the Red Raiders tried to slow the ball down and work on keeping the possession and making good looks. However, the Indians’ defense started to shut down the easy looks as the two went at it but in the end, Bellefonte was able to finish the game out and pick up the win for the visitors, outscoring them 12-10.

Both teams will be back in action Saturday as Bellefonte travels to East Juniata and Southern Huntingdon travels to Juniata.

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