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BOALSBURG -- Coming off a strong Saturday victory over Juniata County rival East Juniata, the Juniata girls basketball team was back in action Monday as they traveled to Boalsburg to match up against a very tough 20-2 veteran squad in Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy in the semifinals of the Tri-Valley League Championships.
Early on, the Lady Indians kept things close before the WolfPack started to pull away in the second half, taking the contest 69-26.
Leading the scoring for Juniata was Aubryn Deihl, Lindsea Gilson and Mylee Landis, who all tallied six points. Rounding out the scorers was Sara Montoya and Olivia Mummah as both scored four.
"The biggest thing I told them and asked of them is that we don't give up. We don't give up until the horn and they did just that," said Juniata coach Hannah Geedey. "Obviously, St. Joseph is an incredible team. We tried our best. But the girls didn't give up and I'm proud of them."
Despite being outsized Juniata finished with 16 boards.
St. Joseph's was led by their all-time leading scorer Naomi Crispin who tallied a game-high 29 points. Teammate Jacee Cunningham followed with a double-double by posting 15 points and pulling down 10 boards.
Rounding out the double-digit scorers was Aubry Yartz, who also finished with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
In the first period, Crispin hit the first two buckets of the game. Both came in transition as she opened the game only eight points shy of 2,000 points for her career.
Juniata scored on a Mummah bucket, cutting it to a 4-2 contest.
In the next WolfPack possession, St. Joseph's went out behind the three-point line where Lauren Himes squared up and launched a triple, making it a 7-2 contest.
The WolfPack forced a turnover and Cunningham finished it off as she scored in transition.
Montoya cut the contest to just three as she hit a shot in traffic.
Yartz took St. Joseph's lead back to five by hitting a soft lay-in down the lane at 2:30.
Juniata continued to battle as Deihl took the lead back to three as she posted up and hit a long two.
Cunningham seemed to be at the right place at the right time throughout the contest.
At the 2:16 mark, Cunningham upped her team's lead to 13-8 as she hit a runner in the lane.
Deihl added a second bucket to cut into the WolfPack lead at 13-8.
Much like a chess match, St. Joe's seemed to have a counter for every Juniata move.
Yartz took care of her second shot of the first, upping things back up to a 7-point lead.
Gilson had an answer in turn for the Yartz bucket as the Indians found Gilson open for a triple, cutting it again to just a 4-point gap.
However, Crispin had the last say in the period as she stopped and popped on a jumper to give the home team a 17-11 advantage going into the second quarter.
Defensively, the WolfPack started to take control of the contest in the second.
Starting the second quarter, Crispin made history as she hit on a jumper in the key to collect her 2,000th career point.
The game was stopped momentarily as she was awarded a special basketball to mark the occasion.
Once the game got restarted, the WolfPack went right back to work.
When the intermission got underway, St. Joseph's held a 36-18 advantage. Crispin had 12 points in the second stanza.
Despite battling to the end, the Indians trailed 50-24 as the fourth quarter got underway.
But the night belonged to the WolfPack as they went on to victory and a Wednesday night matchup in the TVL championship at Susquenita High School against a team to be named later.
Juniata is back in action Tuesday as they host Penns Valley.
St. Joseph's Catholic Academy 69, Juniata 26
JUN 11 7 6 2 – 26
STJ 17 19 14 19 – 69
Scoring: JUN – Sara Montoya 2 0-0 4, Aubryn Diehl 3 0-1 6, Olivia Mummah 2 0-0 4, Lindsea Gilson 2 1-2 6, Mylee Landis 3 0-0 6. Totals 12 1-3 26. STJ – Naomi Crispin 12 2-3 29, Jacee Cunningham 7 1-2 15, Aubrey Yartz 5 0-0 10, Seki Chappell 1 0-0 2, Layla Fetzer 2 0-0 4, Lauren Himes 3 1-2 9. Totals 31 4-7 69.
Played but didn't score: JUN – Grace Reinhold 0 0-0 0, Maura Campagna 0 0-0 0, Carolyn Heidenreich 0 0-0 0. STJ – None .
Three-point shots: JUN – Gilson. STJ – Himes 2, Crispin 3.