Middle School Hornets split with Canton, fall to Athens

By: Ed Weaver  /  March 7, 2021

The Wellsboro Middle School Basketball teams split with Canton and fell to Athens on back-to-back days on Friday and Saturday, March 5-6, 2021.

On Saturday the teams traveled to Canton where they split a pair of game. In the girls game the young Lady Hornets both secured wins. The A Team won 42-7 and the B Team won 21-17. Paige Logsdon had 7 points, 7 steals, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks, Chloe Brandenburg had 18 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, Raegan Watkins-Bourret had 4 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, Madelyn Losinger had 2 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and LeAnna Fuentes had 7 points and 4 rebounds.

In the boys game the Hornets lost to Canton 33-15 on Saturday. Canton led 8-4 after the first quarter and 19-9 after the first half. Canton then outscored the Hornets 7-4 in the third quarter for a 26-13 lead after three quarters and cruised to the victory.

"We tried a little bit of everything today to try to get our offense going, but we have really struggled to score lately," said coach Kyle Smith. "We have been getting opportunities to keep ourselves in games, but we have not been able to finish around the basket. Right now, turnovers are limiting our ability to get shots and ultimately limiting our opportunity to score points. We are hoping to snap out of this tough stretch soon and get our offense back on track."

Mitchel Lechler scored 7 points, Drayden McGee added 4 points, EJ Keck scored 2, Micah Vickery and Micaiah Fitch each scored 1 point.

The B Team won 37-11. Marek Mascho led all scorers with 14 points, Luke Rothermel and Jacob Baldwin added 5 points each, Drayden McGee scored 4 points, Jonathan Carl scored 3 points, and Owen Stevens, Braeden Abernathy and Peyton Yawger each had 2 points.

On Friday night the Hornets hosted Athens that saw both team come up short. The boys lost 42-17 while the girls dropped a heart breaker, 25-23.

In the girls game Logsdon had 10 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks, Brandenburg had 7 points and 2 assists, Watkins-Bourret had 2 steals and 3 assists, Losinger had 4 points, and Fuentes had 2 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.

"They were the most aggressive team we have played and it took us awhile to adjust," head coach Janelle Tombs said. "We gave up some easy baskets with our turnovers.  We did start handling the pressure and putting more on them as the game went on, just ran out of time."

The Lady Hornets B Team won 18-14 with multiple players each scoring 2 points. 

In the boys game Micah Vickery led the Hornets with 9 points, Mitchel Lechler and Micaiah Fitch both scored three points, while Owen Stevens and Drayden McGee added 1 point each. The Wellsboro B team won 22-12. Luke Rothermel scored 8 points, Jonathan Carl scored 6 points, Drayden McGee added 4 points, Marek Mascho and Peyton Yawger each scored 2.

"Athens' size and physicality really bothered us tonight and after falling behind early, it was difficult to establish any offense the rest of the way," Smith said. "We talk about the little things it takes to compete at a high level all the time. Athens was a huge test for us tonight and we have a lot of work to do if we want to compete at that level."

Both teams travel to North Penn-Liberty on Monday.