PORT ALLEGANY - Sheffield played one of its better defensive games Wednesday at Port Allegany, but the Wolverines' cold shooting caught up with them during a 41-26 loss to the Gators.
"We came out of the gate pretty good, but really struggled with knocking down what I thought were some pretty easy shots," said Wolverines coach Jeff Labesky. "We were down 12 at the break and made some adjustments that allowed us to give up just 11 points in the second half. We just struggled with our shooting tonight."
Labesky added that he was pleased with the effort that saw his team down 16-12 after the first quarter and 30-18 at halftime. In the second half, the Wolverines went to work on taking Port's leading scorer - Rebecca Lathrup -away. After scoring 13 points in the first half, Lathrup was limited to four points the rest of the way.
While the defensive effort was stout, Sheffield had trouble finding the basket in the final 16 minutes, scoring just eight additional points after halftime.
Freshman Jen Isenberg continues to improve with 14 points in Wednesday's loss. Abby Labesky finished with six points, Hannah Vile added four points and Julie Ely scored two.
The Wolverines dropped the junior varsity game, 34-13. Mariah Fitzgerald's six points led the Wolverines.
Sheffield (1-8) is back in action Friday, hosting Elk County Catholic.
SHEFFIELD (26): Hannah Vile 0 4-8 4, Sara Hoden 0 0-0 0, Hanna Fitch 0 0-0 0, Sam Pollock 0 0-0 0, Ashley Davidson 0 0-2 0, Abby Labesky 2 0-0 6, Julie Ely 1 0-0 2, Jen Isenberg 5 3-4 14, Totals: 8 7-14 26
PORT ALLEGANY (41): Miller 1 0-0 2, Edgell 0 1-4 1, L. Delacour 3 0-0 8, Drabert 2 0-0 4, Johnson 3 1-2 7, Lathrup 7 3-7 17, Helo 1 0-0 2, Totals: 17 5-13 41
Sheffield 12 6 4 4 - 26
Port Allegany 16 14 7 4 - 41
3-pointers: S- Labesky 2, Isenberg; P- Delacour 2
Junior varsity game
SHEFFIELD (13): Jackie Kifer 0 0-0 0, Abby Cromwell 0 0-0 0, Rachel Maines 0 0-0 0, Tierra Hansen 0 0-0 0, Jade Moore 1 0-0 3, Anna Baldensperger 2 0-0 4, Mariah Fitzgerald 3 0-0 6, Totals: 6 0-0 13
PORT ALLEGANY (34): Jones 1 2-2 4, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Schultz 1 0-0 2, Nayler 4 1-2 9, Ernst 1 0-0 2, Delower 0 3-8 3, Royes 4 0-0 8, Harvey 2 0-0 4, Totals: 14 6-12 34
Sheffield 0 2 9 2 - 13
Port Allegany 9 13 5 7 - 34
3-pointers: S- Moore; P- None