Poor start costs Huskies against Colts
Mifflin County scores 4 points in 1st half
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LEWISTOWN -- The Mifflin County girls basketball team struggled to find any sort of rhythm with its half-court offense in the opening half, as a lanky and physical Cedar Cliff defense imposed its will on the Huskies in the opening half.
It took the Huskies until there was 4:38 left in the third quarter to score their first bucket from the floor and an early Cedar Cliff run was too much for Mifflin County to overcome in a 48-27 loss to the Colts in a Mid-Penn Keystone Division contest on Wednesday night in Lewistown.
The Huskies (9-5, 7-2 Keystone) did not score from the field in the first half as relentless defense and a dominant effort on the glass helped Cedar Cliff find early momentum. The Colts began the night on a 19-4 run and never looked back, carrying a 24-4 edge into halftime.
Cedar Cliff (15-0, 9-0 Keystone) out-rebounded the Huskies by 22 on the night and held the star duo of Marissa Gingrich and Bri Bodtorf to just one point in the opening half. The Huskies turned it over eight times in the first half after limiting turnovers in its last two weeks of games.
Gingrich and Bodtorf received constant pressure from the Colts' defense as they often were doubled and at times even triple-teamed when they touched the basketball.
"Cedar Cliff is undefeated for a reason," Mifflin County coach Aaron Gingrich said. "They play extremely physical defense and unfortunately, sometimes the officials don't want to stop the game on a continuous basis and accordingly, a team like that is going to take advantage of those bumps and being able to blow up screens and they like to live in that environment and that really bothered us in the first half."
Mifflin County's offensive struggles were uncharacteristic as the Huskies couldn't get anything to fall after scoring no less than 55 points in each game of the team's previous six-game winning streak that was snapped by the Colts.
"When shots don't fall it becomes contagious amongst our players," Gingrich said. "You'll see some heads drop and see confidence lost. I'm not one for any moral victories, but Cedar Cliff's coach kept his normal subbing pattern, and they ran their normal offense, and it was a one-point game in the second half. We had to change our style of play, but I was appreciative of our girls fight and effort against a top five 5A team in the state."
The Huskies fought through some adversity in the second half as Gingrich got going in the third, knocking down a pair of contested jumpers before drilling a three from half court at the buzzer to end the frame. Mifflin County trailed 34-16 after three quarters.
Mifflin County cut the deficit to 14 at one point in the second half but could not complete the comeback. Gingrich finished the game with a game-high 15 points while recording five steals and pulling in three rebounds. Bodtorf added six points while Mya Aumiller led Mifflin County with five boards.
"When you have to the game like that, you have to take some chances and we gave some run outs late, but their coach called two timeouts in the second half when you could feel some momentum shifting," Gingrich said.
"That's a tribute to the effort our girls are putting out on the court. I know that they are frustrated, and they are mad, but a terrible half can't take away from the big picture."
Cedar Cliff was led by Taylor Ferraro who scored 14 points. The Huskies held the Colts' star freshman Olivia Jones to just nine points but her 12 rebounds, nearly half of which occurred on the offensive glass led to numerous second-chance points.
Overall, Gingrich's message to his team was to have a short memory and to not let Wednesday night's loss halt the momentum that the Huskies had been building the past three weeks.
The Huskies will look to get back on track Friday when they travel to Lower Dauphin for a Mid-Penn Keystone Division contest.
"The message after the game was just to learn from what we didn't do in the first half, but don't let that take away the momentum we've gained over the last six games," Gingrich said. "The big goal admittedly for these girls is still within their grasp, and we can't let one 16-minute half dictate how we attack the rest of the season."
Cedar Cliff 48, Mifflin County 27
CEDAR CLIFF
Taylor Ferraro 7 0-0 14, Samantha Reilly 4 2-6 11, Olivia Jones 4 1-2 9, Sydney Weyant 2 4-4 6, Kathryn Sansom 2 0-0 4, Ryan Kaercher 1 0-0 2, Bryn Cravener 0 0-0 0, Meghan Schraeder 0 0-0 0, Emily Ford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 7-12 --48.
3-point goals: Reilly.
MIFFLIN COUNTY
Marissa Gingrich 6 0-0 15, Bri Bodtorf 2 2-4 6, Kate Knable 0 3-5 3, Mya Aumiller 1 1-2 3, Emma Weaver 0 0-0 0, Aija Binder 0 0-0 0, Tessa Pavlova 0 0-0 0, Amelia Leister 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 6-11 -- 27.
3-point goals: Gingrich 3.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CC 13-9-10-12 --48
MC 4-0-12-11 -- 27