Lady Bucks Split at Williamson
Morgan Hits Career High 44
by Jim Morgan
FARWELL – The Bcktail Lady Bucks basketball season is starting off on the wrong foot.
Tuesday night’s game against Benton was postponed due to a bad forecast for a snowstorm; as a result Benton closed their school for the day. And last Friday sleet, ice and snow postponed the opening of the Williamson Tip-Off tourney until Saturday morning, giving the Lady Bucks an early wake up call for the bus ride at 7 a.m.
Bucktail split its two games, the second contest marked by a career-high 44 points from junior Maria Morgan.
The first game Saturday saw the Lady Tigers of Galeton able to catch the Lady Bucks napping in the second half as they won 48-42.
In the first half, Coach Carl Gentzyel could not ask for a better start into the season: “They were moving the ball around on offense very well. Our rebounding on both sides of the court was not strong. That is something we need to work on the most. We allow them to get two or three shots at a time. Still we were able to overcome those mistakes. I have been around this game long enough that if you let a team hang around, sooner or later they are going to get you” as the Lady Bucks led at halftime 26-17.
Bucktail had well rounded rebounding; among them was Morgan who led with 9. Senior Hannah Shearer had 8 with juniors Alaina Tripp (8) and Tiffany Werts (8). The Lady Bucks got into foul trouble in the third quarter as Shearer and Werts each had four as Werts found the bench early in the fourth quarter.
Bucktail got lazy on defense and was giving fouls away. Before you know it, Galeton took the lead with 45 seconds left in the game. The Lady Bucks went cold from the field as they could not buy a basket in the last two minutes of the game. Morgan led with 19 points and seven assists but in those last two minutes neither she nor the rest of the Lady Bucks could find the bottom of the net. Tripp and Shearer added 8 points each to the cause as the Lady Bucks walked away wondering how they left this game slip away.
In the next game, Austin was hoping to catch the Lady Bucks still napping but the Lady Bucks won 65-49. Coach Gentzyel and Morgan had a long talk with the Lady Bucks in between games and did they respond. Morgan topped her career high scoring game with an unbelievable 44 points, 7 assists and 9 steals. What was unbelievable about it, she shot 69% from the field (18-26). Coach Gentzyel was talking to himself “why couldn’t I have some of that in the first game”. Austin tried everything they could think of on defense. Morgan would answer on her passing as Werts scored 7, Tripp with 6 and senior Cheyanne Casper 4 as junior Natasha Peck helped with 4 points.
Bucktail came right out from the tip-off scoring as Morgan hit two straight threes of her total six in the game. Defensively the Lady Bucks played well as they had 15 total steals and ripping the boards for 17 rebounds. The lead was as much as 26 in the third quarter.
In the JV games, Coach Morgan could not have been happier on the way the Lady Bucks played in both games. Lady Bucks lost a heartbreaker to Galeton 32-31 as Galeton shot two foul shots with 2.6 seconds left. Junior Allison Schenck led Bucktail with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Freshman Emily Mills scored 8 and 5 rebounds. Sophomore Paige Sockman ripped 9 rebounds in this game.
The second game, it was the opposite way around as the Lady Bucks won 32-30 over Austin. Freshman Hailey Risley was the high scorer 11 points. Junior Abby Ransom scored 6, 9 assist and 6 rebounds. Schenck helped out on the boards with 9 rebounds.
The Lady Bucks will travel to Muncy on Friday Dec. 13th as they tip-off at 6:30 p.m. Then the Lady Bucks return for a three straight home series starting on Monday with Millville, start time 6 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Bucktail | 16 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 42 |
| Galeton | 8 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 48 |
Bucks: Maria Morgan 8 1-2 19, Alaina Tripp 3 2-2 8, Cheyanne Casper 1 0-0 2, Natasha Peck 2 0-0 4, Tiffany Werts 0 1-4 1, Hannah Shearer 4 0-0 8, Abby Ransom 0 0-0 0.
Galeton: Housell 3 1-3 7, Cizek 2 3-4 7, Proctor 2 0-0 4, Shadle 8 2-6 18, McPherson 4 4-6 12
3 Pointers: Bucks: 2 (Morgan 2), Galeton: 0
JV Game: Bucks 31 Galeton 32
High Scocer: Bucks: Allison Schenck 13
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Bucktail | 18 | 19 | 20 | 8 | 65 |
| Central Mountain | 9 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 49 |
Bucks: Morgan 18 2-3 44, Tripp 3 0-0 6, Casper 2 0-0 4, Ransom 0 0-0 0, Werts 3 1-2 7, Shearer 0 0-0 0, Peck 2 0-0 4, Schenck 0 0-2 0
Austin: Logue 0 0-0 0, Shupe 6 0-0 12, H. Glover 6 3-7 15, Hooftaller 1 0-0 2, Daisley 3 0-1 7, Brooks 5 0-2 13
3 Pointers: Bucks: 6 (Morgan 6) Austin: 4 (Daisley 1, Brooks 3)
JV Game: Bucks 31 Austin 30
High Scorer: Bucks: Hailey Risley 11
