Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Mifflin County's Mackenzie Peachey drives between Red Land's Summer Emlet and Lily Strawser.

LEWISTOWN — Mifflin County girls basketball hosted Red Land on Tuesday night and walked away victorious after a 56-50 win.

Mackenzie Peachey started the first quarter off strong for the Huskies, scoring nine points. Maddie Gingrich put up six for Mifflin County, Jaylee Bodtorf sank a three and Amelia Leister added four to the scoreboard as well. In the second quarter Peachey added six more for the Huskies, Gingrich added three and Leister added another two with free throws.

“I would say that we played really well as a team tonight,” Husky Maelyn Gingrich explained. “Our ball movement was really good, our rebounding was really successful and overall, as a team we just played really cohesively.”

For the Patriots’ first half Kayla Kirkpatrick sank a three, Lillian Strawser added two, Summer Emlet added four, and Karli DaCosta added two points, finishing up scoring for the first quarter. In the second quarter, Emlet added another two as well as DaCosta. Emlet, Carlee Collier, Reagan Gossard and DaCosta all landed two free throws each.

Coming into the second half Mifflin County was up 33-23. Leister added four points to the board and Bodtorf put up five points. Red Land scored more points in this quarter than Mifflin County did, but their early lead gave them a little bit of leeway to find their ground and balance their feelings.

“Sometimes, a win is a win,” Huskies head coach Aaron Gingrich explained. “Many times, it’s enjoyable to be able to teach lessons with a smile on your face after a W rather than an L. We did a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, which is expected this time of the year. We had some girls that were really aggressive on offense, but I also thought we made some bad decisions with the ball and turned it over a little too much.”

Red Land’s third quarter was carried by DaCosta as she scored nine out of the teams 12 points. Kirkpatrick added the last points when she sank a three. In the fourth quarter DaCosta added another three points, Emlet hit two, adding six more points to the board and Kirkpatrick also added six with her two three-pointers.

The Huskies returned those scores as Bodtorf hit a three, Leister was able to bucket two free throws, Kanagy put up a two-pointer and then a three point make, and Peachey added four to the board.

“This is the first time this year anybody has ever played a zone,” Gingrich added. “So I think we fell in love with the three. I am a big proponent of the three, but as you saw there were so many gaps in their zone for penetration that really could have pulled us ahead and secured the win. Another thing, we got a little handsy in the second quarter on defense, we ended up with some foul troubles that completely forced a lineup change. That being said, we had some good substitution minutes from a lot of girls and we were able to pull out a tough win, which is a good win for such a young and inexperienced team.”

Mifflin County (2-2) travels to Palmyra on Friday.

Mifflin County 56, Red Land

MC 22-33-42-56

RL 11-23-35-50

MC (56) Amelia Leister 12 6-9 12, Jaylee Bodtorf 4 0-0 11, Maelyn Gingrich 3 0-0 9, Jayda Kanagy 2 0-0 5, Morgan Peachey 7 2-2 19.

RL (50) Carlee Collier 2 2-2 2, Kayla Kirkpatrick 6 0-2 12, Lillian Strawser 1 0-0 2, Summer Emlet 6 2-2 12, Reagan Gossard 2 2-2 2, Karli DaCosta 10 2-2 20.