×

Lady Knights grab win over Youngsville in county clash

The Backyard Brawl between Eisenhower and Youngsville lived up to its billing on Saturday night.

Hannah Bulard was whistled for traveling, making her potential game-tying 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining for naught and Eisenhower escaped with a 30-27 win at Youngsville High School.

“It’s always fun when you play a rivalry game,” said Eisenhower coach Mike Logue. “That’s what we’ve been talking about with these girls. Win or lose, it’s THE game for us on our schedule.”

It was a game filled with defensive intensity and plenty of lead changes.

Youngsville jumped out to an early advantage thanks to a pair of Alison Ishman buckets, only to watch Ike (5-7 overall, 3-2 Region 6) take the lead at the end of the first quarter on a Delaney Nizzi layup.

“She’s a hustler, there’s no doubt about that,” Logue said of Nizzi. “She’s getting better every game. We’re extremely young and our best basketball is ahead of us.”

It was the Lady Eagles’ (3-6, 2-3) turn to go on a run in the second quarter, as Caitlin Craig knocked down a triple and Julia Bailey came off the bench and knocked down a pair of shots to give Youngsville a 14-10 lead at halftime.

Despite that, coach Kerstin Wyman knows her team can improve offensively.

“We played hard, but we have to fine-tune our offense and we have to hit our free throws,” she said. “We came up short there and it definitely hurt us.”

The two teams took turns trading buckets in the third before Kirsten Baran, who scored six of her team-high 10 points in the quarter, hit a jumper with two seconds left to put Ike up 22-20.

Youngsville never got the lead back, but did tie the game with 2:14 to play on a steal and layup from Paige Mineweaser.

Minewaser also got a steal on the ensuing Eisenhower offensive possession, but the Lady Eagles were unable to convert, setting the state for what proved to be the game-winner from Baran.

The senior forward took a pass from Joni Zortman with 1:22 left and buried a hook shot that gave the Lady Knights the lead and ultimately the win, moments after she took the ball away after Mineweaser’s steal

“Joni Zortman came up huge for us with that defensive steal on their fast break and she had a great assist to Baran late in the game,” noted Logue.

The coach also talked about the toughness it takes to win games rivalry games in region play.

“Coach Lundmark talks about sandpaper, about having grit when you play basketball,” he said. “We gave each of the girls a piece of sandpaper last night (Friday) at practice to remind them of what it was going take to win the ball game. You have to get on the floor, you have to battle for rebounds and it’s going to take 32 minutes.”

For Wyman, she knows that her team can get better, especially on offense.

“We just have to execute and bring the tempo of the game to our control,” she said.

Freshman Emily Wheeler led the Lady Knights with seven rebounds, while Zortman had four assists and Baran three blocks.

Mineweaser finished with seven rebounds, six steals and two blocks, while Craig had four blocks for Youngsville.

– – –

UP NEXT

Eisenhower: Hosts Cambridge Springs today

Youngsville: at Cochranton today

– – –

EISENHOWER (30)

Mineweaser 2-3-5-7, Zortman 1-0-3-2, Nizzi 2-0-0-4, Wheeler 0-3-4-3, Baran 4-2-4-10, Giannini 2-0-0-4, McKown 0-0-0-0, Totals 11-8-1-8-30

YOUNGSVILLE (27)

Ishman 4-2-4-10, Sveda 1-1-2-3, Craig 2-1-3-6, Mineweaser 2-0-0-4, Flinn 0-0-0-0, Bulard 0-0-0-0, Bailey 2-0-0-4, Totals 11-4-9-27

By Quarters

Eisenhower         7    3    12    8 – 30

Youngsville          6    8     6     7 – 27

Three-points FGs: Eisenhower – None; Youngsville (1) – Craig

– – –

JV

EISENHOWER (32)

Nizzi 1-2-4-4, Wheeler 1-3-4-5, Frederick 0-1-2-1, Spicer 0-1-2-1, Kingsly 0-0-3-0, Kuzminski 0-2-2-2, Garris 1-2-2-4, McKown 1-2-2-4, Courtney 2-2-4-6, Giannini 2-1-2-5

YOUNGSVILLE (22)

Dunn 2-1-4-7, McAfoose 1-2-4-4, Lawson 0-0-0-0, Rowland 0-1-4-1, Bailey 2-0-0-4, Blake 0-0-0-0, Slocum 0-0-0-0, Hoffman 0-4-6-4, Foley 1-0-0-2

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today