Lady Wildcats Battle, Fall to ‘Shore, 54-41

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – For the Central Mountain girls’ basketball team, it was another loss but the program continues to move forward under first-year head coach Scott Baker.

The Lady Wildcats fell by a 54-41 count to Jersey Shore Tuesday night, leaving Central Mountain at 0-18 for the year. But as has been the case as the season has unfolded, the Lady ‘Cats continue to improve and close the gap. In a winless season a year ago, Central Mountain had been forced into the mercy rule 10 times; this year that has not been the case one time.

Central Mountain stayed with the favored Lady Bulldogs well into the second half. In fact, a 7-0 ‘Cat run to start the third period gave the home team a 34-29 lead. But ‘Shore rode their senior thousand-point scorer Hannah Kauffman to regain the lead, going on a 22-7 run into the final quarter to take command of the game. Kauffman put up seven of her game-high 21 points in the third quarter.

Lady Wildcat coach Scott Baker had good things to say about his team’s effort. “Wins and losses are secondary at this point; we’re working to put together a consistent effort. We’re very, very young, but we battled to the very end.”

Central Mountain was hampered by 28 turnovers, but used double-figure efforts from three underclassmen to stay competitive: freshman Mia Kopysciansky with 14, and sophomores Avery Baker and Quinn McCann with 13 and 12 points respectively. Sophomore Alyssa Fisher produced the team’s other two points.

‘Shore’s Kauffman was backed by junior Aubrey Stetts’ 15 points. Jersey Shore moved to 11-8 with the win.

Three senior players were recognized prior to the game: Summer Flanagan, Morgan Wetzel and Katie Burrows. Also recognized were senior managers Sloane Tressler, Jillian Walker and Hunter Barger.

Central Mountain will try and build on Tuesday’s encouraging performance when they travel to Williamsport (8-8) on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff, followed by a Saturday, Feb. 9 home game with Central Columbia (4-14) at 730 p.m.

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