MS Basketball tops Mansfield

By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | April 2, 2015

The Wellsboro Middle School Basketball teams each defeated Mansfield on Wednesday, April 1.

The girls team beat Mansfield 30-9 for their eighth win in a row. Emma Poirier had 13 points, two steals, and four assists. Julia Smith had eight points, three rebounds, and three steals. Cathryn Brought had four points and three steals. Dani Hunt and Karinthia Witmer added two points each, Jaime Palmer added one point, and Heidi Zuchowski grabbed seven rebounds.

"We started out a little slow offensively, but our defense was excellent from start to finish," said head coach Darrell Morris. "We created some turnovers and got the ball up the floor pretty well to open things up. That is probably about as well as we ran our break this year. We were 8-for-12 from the free throw line, which is excellent at this age. Although Jaime Palmer only had one point, she really shut down their guards defensively and a lot of our opportunities started from there."

The B Team came back from a six point deficit to go ahead 16-15 with a little over 30 seconds left, but Mansfield hit two big shots to take the game. The B team is now 5-4-1 on the year. Tiana Lecker and Emma Palmer had four points each, while Chelsea Morris, Liza Manning, Caitlyn Callahan, and Luna Alexander each added two points each.

On the boys side, the Hornets held on for a 36-31 victory. Wellsboro set the tone early with full court pressure limiting Mansfield's opportunities, resulting in a 9-2 first quarter lead. Mansfield got hot in the second quarter hitting a buzzer beater to go 16-14 going into halftime.

After trailing 26-25 at the end of the third quarter, Wellsboro pushed the ball, but failed to convert at times keeping the game close. Wellsboro finally played smart basketball the last minute forcing the Tigers to foul and put Wellsboro on the line and giving them the victory.

Brandyn Tuttle led the Hornets with 12 points and Andrew Brelo scored 11 on the night. Taynton Repard scored five points, Cameron Tennis pitched in four, and Carson Davis and Tanner Button added two points each.

In the B game, the Hornets lost 27-26 behind eight points from Isaac Bechtel.

The girls improve their record to 17-4 and the boys improve to 14-5. Both teams will be back in action on Monday, April 6 as they host Williamson.