Lady Hornets hang on to beat East Juniata

By: Ed Weaver  /  February 20, 2016

The Wellsboro Girls Basketball team advanced to the District IV semi-finals for the first time in over a decade as they topped East Juniata 49-44 on Friday, February 19.

The first quarter was back-and-forth with both teams trading leads until the Lady Hornets edged EJ 14-12 as the quarter ended. The Lady Hornets then went on an early run in the second and would outscore EJ 17-11 and take a 31-23 lead at halftime.

East Juniata used the break to their advantage as they started the second half strong defensively. The Lady Hornets struggled getting their shots to fall, and EJ made up ground in the quarter to trail 41-37 after outscoring Wellsboro 14-10 in the third. Both teams struggled getting shots to fall in the fourth, and Wellsboro held on to outscored EJ 8-7 to hold on for the win, their first since the 2003-2004 when the team finished as District runners up.

"It was an intense game and I want to say hats off to East Juniata, they played really well tonight," said head coach John Davis. "Their point guard (Laurel Amey) was on fire tonight with 25 points but the girls handled the adversity and pulled it out."

Senior Sarah Ingerick led Wellsboro with 14 points and senior Jada Jackson had 11 to join Ingerick in double figures. Sophomore Lizzie Poirier finished with 8 points, sophomore Rachael Tuttle had 6, junior Janessa Davis had 4, and senior Alexa Singer and junior Jessica Grab rounded out the scoring with 2 points each.

The Lady Hornets advance to the semi-finals where they will take on Southern Columbia next week at a date and location to be determined.

"They're a good team," remarked Davis. "They're very physical and fast, they do a lot of different things defensively, so we have a lot to prepare for in a short amount of time."