Lady Hornets win NTL Large School Division at Towanda

By: Ed Weaver  /  February 14, 2019  /  Photo: Brian Fees

For the second straight year the Wellsboro Varsity Girls Basketball team are NTL Large School Division champions.

Last year the Lady Hornets blew through their NTL regular season schedule en route to the 2017-18 championship. This year was a different story. The Lady Hornets started the year out 0-4 after a rough outing in the Muncy Rotary Tournament and tough losses to Montoursville and Sayre, but won back-to-back games against North Penn-Mansfield and Northeast Bradford to get to 2-4.

After early season losses to Athens and Wyalusing the Lady Hornets went on a three-game run to get back over .500 at 9-8. A road loss to Coudersport set the Lady Hornets back to .500, but they quickly rattled 4 wins in a row to set themselves up to win the league Wednesday night in Towanda.

They did just that as they beat the Black Knights 65-29.

"Tonight we achieved our team goal - to win the NTL," said head coach Maureen Poirier. "The team played super well the first half offensive and defensively. This group of girls have worked extremely hard this season. We started the season 0-4 but they never gave up and continued to work hard every night. I'm super proud of this team."

Wellsboro started off Wednesday's game with a 12-2 run then exploded for 25 points in the second quarter, while holding Towanda to just 7, to break the game wide open for a 37-9 halftime lead. Wellsboro started off the second half by getting into the mercy rule early and outscored the Lady Knight 28-20 to claim their 4th straight win to end the regular season.

Senior Emma Poirier led all scorers with 22 points, senior Heidi Zuchowski and junior Cathryn Brought added 10 points each, and junior Liza Manning and sophomore Jena Boyce scored 8 points each. Sophomore Kiyah Boyce added 4 points off the bench, junior Lauren Singer pitched in 2 points, and sophomore Bailey Monks added 1 point from the foul line.

Manning grabbed 7 rebounds while Brought and Zuchowski added 5 rebounds each. Poirier had 8 assists and 2 steals and Brought added 3 assists and a steal.

Wellsboro swept the contest by winning the JV game 29-23. Sophomore Sarah Mosher and freshmen Lindsey Marmara and Emma Coolidge all scored 6 points each to pace the Lady Hornets and finish the season off with a 9-7 record.

The win improves the Lady Hornets' record to 13-9 and 13-3 in the NTL Large School Division. The girls won't have much time to celebrate as they take place in the NTL Showdown against rival North Penn-Mansfield at home starting at 6:00 p.m. this evening.