Lady Bucks Battle; Fall in Rome
by Jim Morgan
ROME – For many years you play district play-off games at a neutral court. This year, District IV decided to award the higher seeded teams in the rounds of 16 or 8 home court advantage.
Why should the higher seed get a home game? I think it’s a great idea to reward the team for the season that they had. Why should certain schools be able to host the play-off games? I see nothing wrong with the higher seed to make money for their outstanding season.
Nobody argues about it during football play-offs, why not basketball? For the semi-finals and championship game, they will be at a neutral site.
In the case of the No. 6 seed Bucktail Lady Bucks, they had to travel all the way to Rome, PA to take on the No. 3 seed Northeast Bradford. Travel time for this game was about a 2 hour, 45 minute trip for the Lady Bucks this past Saturday morning for a 1 p.m. tip-off. Coaches Carl Gentzyel and Jim Morgan were very pleased on how hard the Lady Bucks worked at practice the last two days and felt that they were ready.
During warm-ups, coach Gentzyel felt the girls didn’t have that game look. Like nerves were beginning to show. Maybe the long ride on the bus? The only Lady Buck with play-off experience was Maria Morgan. In the first quarter, the nerves were showing right away as the Lady Bucks were flat on offense. Turnovers and missed opportunities on lay-ups allowed NEB to jump out to a 17-7 lead to start the second quarter.
NEB ran a man-to-man defense and looked to double-team Morgan every chance they could. Coach Gentzyel knew that they would see that. What he was surprised with was how much they knew of Morgan. Coach Burgert of NEB remembers Morgan from the elementary program and junior high tournaments at Towanda: “She sees the floor very well and takes advantage of her teammates being open. As an opponent, you hope the other girls are flat on shooting.”
In the second quarter, the Lady Bucks were getting on track as everybody was getting involved on the offense; Alaina Tripp, Cheyanne Casper, Tiffany Werts and Morgan adding up on the scoreboard as they got within three. Then two quick turnovers right before halftime hurt the Lady Bucks as they went into the locker room down 29-23. Bucktail outscored NEB in that quarter 16-12 and Hannah Shearer and Werts were hitting the boards hard for rebounds.
The third quarter saw the Lady Bucks come out really flat as they could only hit two field goals. NEB adjusted their boxing-out on Werts, Shearer and Emalea Mills. With the legs going out on Werts and Shearer, NEB boxing out for rebounds became easier. NEB’s increasing the lead to 17 would then to slow the game down working for a good outside shot in which they could not miss on this day it seemed.
With the fourth quarter beginning, NEB was forcing the Lady Bucks to go man-to-man in order to spread the floor. But Coach Gentzyel knew he did not have enough experience to stay man-to-man. The Lady Bucks front three were trying everything to get the ball, but NEB is well trained on keeping control of it on the front court as Bucktail kept watching time tick away. NEB had balanced scoring as they had three players in double digits and six of the eight players scored, NEB winning 59-43.
For the Lady Bucks, it was Morgan as the high scorer of the game with 19 and 8 assists, Tripp, Casper, Werts and Mills all scoring 6 points. Shearer had 8 rebounds with Morgan, Werts and Tripp helping out with 5 each.
The Lady Bucks are disappointed on how they finished but for the season they had with an eight-game winning streak that is a great accomplishment. Players like Morgan, Casper, Werts, and Shearer having career marks of points per game; Werts having so many double-doubles on rebounds. Things are looking good for next year? With the defensive play of Tripp and Shae Cowfer who came off the bench this season, they played very well. The young players that received some experiences during the varsity games as well, like Abby Ransom, Allison Schenck, and Mills can only improve their game.
I know it is only nine months away for basketball to start but for Coach Gentzyel he’s already telling people look for the Lady Bucks to be back. The Lady Bucks and coaching staff would like to thank everybody that made the long trip to NEB in supporting the Lady Bucks this past Saturday afternoon. There was a good group of fans there for our Lady Bucks and THANK YOU also to all our fans that supported us at all the home and away games this season for the Lady Bucks. You are great fans. With a couple of weeks off, we will see you all around the baseball and softball fields. THANK YOU Lady Bucks for the memories this season!!! We are proud of all of you girls!!
Bucks 7 16 7 13-43
NEB 17 12 18 12-59
Bucks: Maria Morgan 6 5-7 19, Shae Cowfer 0 0-0 0, Alaina Tripp 2 2-2 6, Cheyanne Casper 2 1-2 6, Tiffany Werts 3 0-0 6, Emalea Mills 3 0-0 6, Hannah Shearer 0 0-0 0, Total: 16 8-11 43
NEB: Calla johnson 3 1-2 7, Angelia Laudermilch 6 4-8 17, Alyssa Coon 2 0-0 4, Maddie Johnson 4 2-4 11, Lydia Werner 7 1-2 16, Alyssa Turner 0 0-0 0, Kara Hallett 2 0-0 4, Cassie Johnson, Total: 24 8-16 59
3-Pointers: Bucks 3 (Morgan 2, Casper) NEB 3 (Laudermilch, M. Johnson, Werner)
Record: Bucktail 14-9.
