Sivic scores 24 in Miners 47-36 win over Bishop Walsh

Jan. 6—CUMBERLAND — After a slow start to open the game, No. 1 Mountain Ridge pulled away and defeated Bishop Walsh 47-36 on Thursday night.

Mountain Ridge's leading scorer, Sydney Snyder, was unavailable for the game. She averages 19.3 points per game with seven rebounds.

"It gave an opportunity for a number of girls to step into roles," Mountain Ridge head coach Rob Duncan said. "It's a cliche in sports, next person up. We had girls step into scoring situations and we came out slow adjusting to not having her on the floor. But the girls picked up their intensity as the game went along."

The Miners (8-1) were led by Reghan Sivic who led all scorers with 24 points. The Spartans (3-5) led after the first quarter but were unable to maintain the lead.

"Our girls played hard, Mountain Ridge is a very good team," Bishop Walsh head coach Whitey Hoppert said. "We started out well, in the second quarter we let them climb back in. We made a lot of silly turnovers. I think our defense did well, our zone did pretty well tonight."

Bishop Walsh scored the first six points of the game. Four came from Izzy Kendall. After starting 0 for 3 from the field, Mountain Ridge scored its first basket with five minutes left on a layup by Sivic.

"We were working on boxing out all week," Hoppert said. "Boxing out, getting out and running. We don't have a true center or big forward. When our girls get it, we gotta get it up the court."

The Spartans held the Miners to two points through the game's first seven minutes. Bayleigh Lamberson converted an and-one layup with 36 seconds left for Mountain Ridge.

"That's been a problem the last few games," Duncan said. "We've been starting slow. Both in the first quarter and the third quarter and slowly we work ourselves into the game. That's something we need to fix in practice, bring intensity from the start."

Bishop Walsh led 13-4 after one quarter. The Miners opened the second quarter on a 11-4 run and cut their deficit to 17-15. Jazmyn White hit a 3-pointer to give Mountain Ridge its first lead with 3:35 left in the half.

The Spartans struggled to hold onto the ball in the second quarter, committing 11 turnovers including four off of Miners' steals.

"I try to preach less turnovers than the last game," Hoppert said. "Tonight, that wasn't it. Mountain Ridge plays good man-to-man defense. We're young, the girls' brains get moving sometimes faster than their bodies. We had a lot of silly turnovers."

In the final three minutes of the first half, Mountain Ridge scored the final eight points. Sivic and Lamberson each had two layups in the final minutes.

"We were keeping the ball on one side," Duncan said. "Playing offense you gotta make the ball go from side to side to make the defense move. We started doing a better job at that."

Leading 26-17 at halftime, the Miners pulled away in the third quarter. Mountain Ridge opened the half on a 10-5 run and took its biggest lead of the game at 36-22 midway through.

Mountain Ridge, who finished with 10 steals overall, forced five turnovers in the third quarter with two coming off steals.

"We talked at halftime that we could not play passive defense," Duncan said. "We had to get out and attack. The problem was we were a little handsy at times. We got called for a lot of reaching, but with those fouls came the aggression and the steals."

The Spartans took several deep 3s and air balled a handful in the second half. As a team, Bishop Walsh shot 2 for 15 from beyond the arc.

Mountain Ridge led 43-30 midway through the fourth quarter before the Spartans cut it to single digits with 2:15 remaining.

"I think what got us back in is they looked at the scoreboard and thought we're not out of this," Hoppert said. "Mountain Ridge runs the shot clock to under 10 knowing we're gonna be in zone. It's 11 points, we got smoked by Allegany by 35 or 40. We continue to grow, we continue to get better. We'll upset somebody this year."

Trailing 45-36, Bishop Walsh air balled several 3s late in the game. Aubrey Fultz hit a difficult jumper to seal the victory for the Miners.

"They cut it back to single digits because our shot selection was poor on three or four straight possessions," Duncan said. "When you're up by 13, 14 points and there's a 30 second shot clock, we can't shoot with 25 seconds left. We took way too many quick shots."

For Mountain Ridge, Lamberson scored 10 while White had nine points.

"She is key for us in the center," Duncan said of Lamberson. "In girls basketball, you see a lot of 2-3 zone. She is very good, she has the height to see over the top of the defense. She can look down to the baseline or kick to the opposite wing to our shooters."

Kendall led the Spartans with 11 points while Autumn Hoppert scored nine.

"When we need a spark, I count on Izzy," Hoppert said. "I tried to have Izzy cover Lamberson inside. I know that's not in her element, but I said just stay with her. You're the biggest girl we have that can cover her."

Mountain Ridge travels to play Northern on Monday at 7 p.m. Bishop Walsh hosts Rockwood, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

"Last year they were a physical team," Hoppert said of the Rockets. "They got numbers, they got a deep bench. We need to bring the same intensity we had tonight and I think we'll be alright."

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.