State College girls basketball loses third quarter lead to Altoona in falling 55-40

State College and Altoona battled back and forth on Tuesday night, but only one Lions squad could come away victorious.

The Lady Little Lions (5-9) were defeated 55-40 by the Lady Lions (10-5). State College led 35-34 at the close of the third quarter, but Altoona’s scoring onslaught became too much to overcome in the fourth.

State College head coach Alli Mock was proud of her team’s effort to fight against a 28-18 deficit at the half to take the lead for the first time in the following quarter. She believes that the team needs to continue carrying the momentum and energy that it took to fight off their rival in the third quarter into future games.

“In the third quarter especially, I was extremely proud of them,” Mock said. “The stuff that we challenged them on at halftime to do, they put together on the court, the played as a team, they shared the ball.

“We talked to them about finding good shots versus great shots and they really worked to find those great shots on the offensive end. We challenged them to increase their defensive intensity to see what that would do for the game and it definitely had an effect in the third quarter.”

Jordyn Steindl was State College’s high scorer with 13 points. She boosted the team’s scoring in the third quarter with a 3-point shot and two layups to cut Altoona’s lead.

“I was just thinking that I needed to score,” Steindl said. “I had some good shots. I needed to get some good passes and I needed to get my teammates open. I knew that we needed a score to comeback. So, I just told myself, ‘Let’s get a bucket.’”

The Lady Lions were able to get an early advantage on the Lady Little Lions with Wilt’s early 3-point shooting barrage. Altoona called a full timeout with a 12-6 lead and 2:22 remaining in the first quarter. State College was then assessed a technical foul following the break, leading to Wilt making two free throws. Altoona led 17-7 after Wilt’s 11-point first quarter.

State College called a full timeout following a layup and 3-pointer by Altoona’s Brooklyn Barron and Taylor Lane respectively, with 6:06 left in the second quarter. The Lady Lions held a 22-7 lead. State College’s Tori Risha rushed back for back-to-back fast-break layups to cut Altoona’s lead to 22-11 with 3:23 left in the first half.

The Lady Little Lions came roaring back in the third quarter with Steindl’s seven points and to cut the score to 32-29 with 2:22 left.

Emma Coudriet immediately followed the Altoona timeout to make a corner 3-pointer, tying the game at 32-32. Diana Tsarnakova then hit a 3-point field goal on a second chance opportunity to give State College a 35-32 lead, before Melana Eyer answered back with a 2-point floater for Altoona to trail 35-34 prior to the fourth.

Eyer would later seize her opportunity in the fourth quarter, knocking down two consecutive 3-pointers. From that point forward, the Lady Lions outscored State College 21-5 in the waning minutes for the 55-40 victory.

“I knew that my team was struggling,” Eyer said. “I knew that it was my time to step up and hit big shots for my team. It felt really good. We play together as a team, we share the ball really well and outside of basketball, we are all friends. We all care for each other.”

Improving to 10-5 on the year, Altoona has had many strong victories. However, those blowouts haven’t prepared them for winning close matchups, according to head coach Chris Fleegle. Tuesday night brought the team’s ability to close out into focus. With a 35-34 deficit at the end of the third quarter, they pulled away for the win in convincing order.

“Every team has a point in their season when they need to learn how to win,” Fleegle said. “This group hasn’t had that yet. We’ve won some games where we’ve won by double-digits and so forth. I don’t want to go back into that situation, but it was so nice to see those guys respond and close out a game that way. That’s what good teams do. Good teams find a win to get it done and close the game out.”

Altoona 55, State College 40

A (10-5): Eyer 13, Witt 12, Barron 12, Lane 9, Gibson 7, Smith 2

SC (5-9): Steindl 13, Tsarnakova 6, Risha 6, Coudriet 5, Hawbaker 3, Donnell 3, Fry 3, McElhinney 1

First Half: 28-18, Altoona