Jersey Shore survives against BEA

By rscaife
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Updated: January 30, 2018

By Kenny Varner
WINGATE – Jersey Shore found out Monday that the Bald Eagle Area girls basketball team is getting better in leaps and bound.
Trailing by one going into the final stanza, the Bulldogs had to rally and fend off a feisty Eagles’ team that were looking for the upset.
However, Jersey Shore’s Hannah Kauffman cane alive, blocking the lanes defensively and finishing off numerous fast breaks en route to leading her team to a 45-39 victory.
“They (Bald Eagle) played very well. We played, not so well to begin the game and took them for granted. I felt they were the aggressive ones,” Jersey Shore coach Darrin Bischof said. “But we’ve been in this spot before and I think our experience took over and in the end. But I think we were fortunate to get out with a win tonight.”
Kauffman spearheaded the comeback attempt with a 13-point fourth quarter en route to a game-high 22 points.
Teammate Averie Hess was constant throughout, finishing with 10.
For Bald Eagle, it was another step forward as they were in it to win and refused to go away at the end in the six-point loss.
Megan Chambers, who collected a double-double also finished with a game-high 22 points. She also pulled down 10 rebounds. She also came up with clutch buckets in the third and forth quarters.
Early on, teammate Lacee Barnhart lit things up with nine first half points. She finished the night with 12 points.
“I thought we got better today. We got to continue to work hard so we can progress. We play a lot of young kids and we have to continue to trust the process,” said Bald Eagle coach Darin Hazel. “We talked about that tonight it was our passing that was the challenge. You have to give credit to Jersey Shore. They played the passing lanes very well. The got into the passing lanes and forced a lot of turnovers. We had 26 turnovers and if we didn’t have all those, it’s a different story.
Going into the fourth, Barnhart gave the Home fans something to cheer about, hitting a triple with 10 ticks left on the third period clock, 27-26.
Having the slim lead going into the final period, the Eagles held the lead.
But early on in the quarter, Baleigh Larson put the Bulldogs back in the lead as she hit a runner in the lane.
Forcing a turnover, Sadie Griswold finished off the following possession to add to the lead.
Jersey Shore would go on to go on a 10-0 run when the dust settled. Leading the way was Kauffman who seemed to be anticipating every Bald Eagle pass early on. In the run, Kauffman had four and Larson had four.
With 5:10 left, the Bulldogs started to pull ahead of the Eagles, 36-27.
After a Bald Eagle time out, the Eagles got on the board for the first time in the quarter as Chambers hit a long two.
On the following possession, Kauffman extended the lead back out to nine, 38-29.
Chambers brought her team back to six as she went downtown with a triple, cutting it to 38-32.
But Kauffman had the hot hand and Extended the lead once again to over eight.
Jersey Shore would get the ball to Kauffman two more times to give them a double-digit 45-34 lead.
With time running out and nothing but pride on the line, Chambers finished the scoring with five points. Highlighting the scoring a three-point basket at the buzzer. But it was too little too late as the Bulldogs held onto the win.
Bald Eagle Area opened the game with a strong, aggressive defense as it held Jersey Shore to just one bucket while the Eagles scored 10.
The Eagles continued to hold onto the lead as the game went into the intermission, leading 21-18.