BEA outlasts Lady Bucks 38-26 in tournament finals

By Bees O’Brien

Allport- Head coach Suellen Wagner’s Lady Bucks basketball squad took on a much larger opponent in Bald Eagle Area in Saturday’s West Branch Holiday Tournament title game. Bucktail hung with the Lady Eagles throughout the day, but in the end it would be the more experienced squad from Wingate that would pull off the 38-26 title win.

The Lady Bucks jumped all over Bald Eagle in the first quarter and held a surprising 12-10 lead.

BEA responded in the second quarter and their 13-2 advantage in the second quarter clearly was the deciding frame in the contest.

Down 23-14 to start the second half, Wagner’s Bucktail squad fought back and never gave up. The Lady Eagles took a narrow 10-9 advantage in the third quarter.

Despite their improved efforts, the Lady Bucks trailed Bald Eagle Area 33-23 heading into the final quarter of play.

Neither team had much success in the final quarter. BEA managed just 5 points, while the lid was on the hoop for Bucktail too. The Lady Bucks failed to take advantage of a poor offensive effort from the Lady Eagles and netted just 3 points to set the final at 38-26.

Kendall Wagner led Bucktail with 13 points, 12 rebounds, a pair of steals and two blocks. Wagner had gone a perfect 5-0 on the wrestling mats at Clearfield during the day to take 170 pound title and following her efforts in the championship contest, she was awarded Defensive Player of the tournament.

Matti Mason added 9 points and Eva Sockman chipped in 3 points. Adriele Intallura scored 1 point on a foul shot to wrap up the Lady Bucks scoring.

Bucktail dropped to 2-6 on the season, while BEA upped their mark to 4-5.

The Lady Bucks will next be in action on Friday when they host Montgomery (1-6) in Mid Penn play.