Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Mifflin County's Jayda Kanagy fires up a shot as Juniata's Mylee Landis tries to block.

LEWISTOWN — It was quite the season debut on Thursday night for the Mifflin County girls basketball team as they used a 23-point second quarter to defeat visiting Juniata, 56-37, with new Huskies coach Crystal Weaver leading the charge.

Leading the offensive explosion for the Huskies (1-0) was Jayda Kanagy who posted five three-pointers en route to a game-high 26-point performance. Teammate Payton Weaver took her game inside and muscled out a 12-point effort.

“I’m very proud of the girls. There were moments where we seemed a little stagnant. But they really stuck to it,” said Weaver. “Their aggressiveness, whether it’s defensively or offensively, that second quarter we really got aggressive and did some things to spread that lead. That’s how we are conducting practice. Everything is about being aggressive. We are trying to dictate offense, dictate defense and things like that. So, I’m really pleased with the girls’ intensity.”

Teammate Mackenzie Peachey scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter, leading to the Huskies’ 23-point showing in the stanza.

Offensively for the Lady Indians (0-2) were two 9-point performances by teammates Lindsea Gilson and Grace Reinhold.

Both teams were even on the boards as they collected 24 rebounds each.

“We just talked in the locker room about this. From the beginning to the end we definitely got better. We definitely improved. I saw that in the girls from one quarter to the next. We definitely got better and I can’t deny that we got outplayed,” said Juniata coach Hannah Geedey. “They (Mifflin County) shot great. They hit the three-pointers and that really killed us. We didn’t get a hand in their faces and they were ready to play.”

In the first quarter, the Lady Huskies jumped out to a quick 4-0 advantage on baskets from Weaver and Leah Reed.

Juniata got its first bucket of the game on a shot by Gilson, cutting it to two.

Jayda Kanagy scored her first bucket moments later to extend the lead back to four.

But that would just be the Indians next possession as they got the ball back to Gilson and she was automatic making it a 6-4 contest.

With time running out in the first, the Huskies added a free throw by Weaver to take a 3-point lead into the second.

However, in the second quarter the Lady Huskies defense and its offense took their game to another notch as they exploded on a 23-9 second quarter run, extending the lead to 30-14 at the half.

In that run, Kanagy was on fire from beyond three-point range, going 4-for-4 in the quarter. Mackenzie Peachey took care of the inside game as she put up 10 hard contested baskets to help her team to extend the lead as the two teams went into the intermission.

With the exception of the second quarter, the Lady Indians kept the quarters close.

In the third, the Lady Huskies outscored Juniata, 11-7. Seven of those came from the continued white hot shooting of Kanagy who added another triple to give her five treys in the contest.

Juniata’s points came from Gabby Reed, who gave her team a spark coming in the third as she posted four points. Reinhold hit her team’s first triple of the game to put the contest at 41-21 as the final stanza was about to start.

Despite making improvements in each of the third and fourth quarters the lead was too much for the Indians to come back from as the Huskies captured the home victory.

The Huskies host Milton Hershey next Wednesday at 7 p.m. Juniata has their first home game of the season on Tuesday against Newport with tip-off at 6:30 p.m.

MIfflin County 56, Juniata 37

JU 5 9 7 16- 37

MC 723 11 15- 56

Scoring: JUN – Carolyn Heidenreich 1 1-2 3, Gabby Reed 2 2-6 6, Grace Reinhold 4 0-0 12, Maura Capagna 3 0-0 6, Lindsea Gilson 3 2-4 9, Mylee Landis 0 1-3 1. Totals 12 4-11 34. MC – Payton Weaver 3 5-10 12, Madison Peachey 1 0-0 2, Jayda Kanagy 9 2-4 26, Malaina Maxwell 0 3-6 3, Mackenzie Peachey 5 0-0 10, Leah Reed 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 11-24 53.

Played but didn’t score: JUN – Sara Montoya 0 0-0 0, Aubryn Deihl 0 0-0 0, Olivia Mummah 0 0-2 0. MC – Lily Curry 0 0-0 0, Mya Felmlee 0 0-2 0, Reagan Kenepp 0 0-0 0, Ciara Williams 0 0-0 0.

From staff reports

FROM WEDNESDAY

BOYS BASKETBALL

Eagles bulldoze Mustangs, 65-44

MIDDLEBURG — Line Mountain (1-0) boys basketball blitzed Midd-West for a 65-44 victory on Wednesday evening.

Bryce Smeltz corralled 24 points to lead the Eagles’ charge. Kaiden Maurer tallied 13 points in the road win.

For the Mustangs (0-1), captain and senior guard D’zani Coley posted 16 points and freshman guard Abram Sellers added 14. Senior forward Logan Hollenbach tacked on eight points.

Next, Midd-West travels to play Halifax on Tuesday.