Tigers drop Muncy
CATAWISSA R.R. - Muncy came into Southern Columbia with an outside shot at catching the Tigers for the Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference Division II title. The Indians would have needed to beat Southern, and then hope the Tigers would lose their final two games while winning both of theirs.
Southern never let them get to Point B on that schematic.
Kayla Lavella scored 23 points and Mackenzie Clark 11 as the Tigers (17-2, 12-0) clinched the division outright by methodically pulling away for a 51-36 win over the Indians (14-6, 9-3) Tuesday.
The Tigers moved the ball around well and shot 50 percent from the floor (18-for-36) and overcame 24 turnovers.
LaVella scored 13 points in the first half, and Southern got solid performances from her supporting cast all the way around. For example, Sam Fraley didn't score a point, took only one shot in fact, but had six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
"We have three or four girls who are all kind of good in different areas for us," said Southern coach JoEllen Gallinot. "Mackenzie Clark and Sam Fraley will really take care of the ball for us, Kayla will look for her shot and with Danielle (Mowery), I never have to worry about her defense."
Southern opened with an 11-8 first quarter and gradually built the lead to nine (25-16) at halftime and 14 (37-23) after three quarters.
"I think our strength is our defense," Gallinot said. "We've been continually giving people a hard time with our zones. We've been real successful with our 3-2 in making people think the middle is wide open, and then someone is there because we're quick enough to fill that space.
"Tonight we went to a 2-3 early in the game because number 42 (Muncy's Courtney Ebner) gave us trouble up there, and we did a really nice job with it. We almost got in a little foul trouble near the end. We usually go about eight or nine girls deep though, so we can run at other teams and I can give the girls breathers."
Ebner scored just three points and they came early in the game.
Muncy's Jordan Jones scored 13 points and had five steals to lead the Indians.
"I think we're seeded about fifth right now in the district," said Gallinot. "Mount Carmel's the team to beat and I know Sayre is a very good team. What I think is neat is that between mount Carmel, Line Mountain, Lourdes and Shamokin, all of our teams around here are really making some noise."
Game Summary
MUNCY (36) - Good 2 2-2 6, McLaughlin 1 0-0 2, Ja. Jones 2 2-2 6, Jo. Jones 5 3-5 13, Ebner 1 1-2 3, Ruby 0 2-2 2, Lamoreaux 0 0-0 0, Leonard 0 0-0 0, Good 1 0-0 2, 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 10-13 36.
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (51) - Mowery 2 1-3 6, Clark 4 2-4 11, Lavella 7 7-8 23, Blass 2 1-2 5, Tomaschik 1 0-1 2, Fraley 0 0-0 0, Fink 2 0-0 4, Bobber 0 0-0 0, Gilroy 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-18 51.
Muncy 8 8 7 13 - 36
Southern 11 14 12 14 - 51
3-point FGs: Muncy - None; Southern (4) - Mowery, Clark, Lavella 2.
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