Instant classic -East Juniata survives late run by Lady Red Raiders

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 9, 2018

It was the comeback that almost happened.

Despite being down by double digits going into their contest against a talented East Juniata team, the Bellefonte girls basketball team was able to bounce back in the second half to cut the Tigers’ lead to just two points before, East Juniata was able to hold on and capture the 34-28 victory Saturday afternoon at the East Juniata gym.

Both teams entered the game with less than 24 hours between its Friday night contest where both teams were victorious.

East Juniata defeated an always tough Southern Rockets team while Bellefonte knocked off Juniata, both on Friday evening in its respective season openers.

East Juniata was led by Alyssa Robinson’s team leading 11-point effort.

Bellefonte’s Maddie Tice finished one point short of a double-double, posting nine points and 10 boards.

East Juniata’s defense came out battling from the beginning as it held the Red Raiders to just two points in the first while it scored 12 points to take a 12-2 advantage.

Leading the scorers in the first was Robinson with six.

Bellefonte got its only bucket from Sarah DeHaas.

Things didn’t fare much better in the second for Bellefonte as the Tigers continued the pressure defensively, holding Bellefonte to just five points.

Bellefonte allowed only 10 in the second as it trailed 22-7 at the intermission.

However, the Lady Raiders marched back into the game in the third as its defense started to help their offense, holding the Tigers to just six points while it scored 11, cutting it to a 28-18 lead going into the final stanza.

Bellefonte got its long game going as the Lady Raider went instantly on a 6-0 on consecutive triples by Mal Smith and Tice, making it 28-24 with 6:09 left.

The Lady Raiders were able to cut the lead to 30-28 before the Tigers were able to keep the Lady Raiders off the board for the rest of the game as they scored four insurance points en route to the win.

With the victory East Juniata improves to 2-0 while Bellefonte drops to 1-1.