From staff reports

Talk about an exciting season opener. Central Mountain hosted Bellefonte and the Wildcats earned a season-opening win at home against the Raiders, 82-77, on Friday night.

Central Mountain held a 16-15 lead after the first quarter and took a narrow 41-37 lead into the half. But the third quarter is where the Wildcats were able to pull away. Central Mountain outscored Bellefonte by 10 points in the third quarter to gain some separation.

But Bellefonte rallied back and scored an impressive 31 fourth-quarter points to claw back, but Central Mountain held strong to secure the five-point win.

Hunter Hoy played lights out, scoring an impressive 30 points in his season-debut. Brady Myers added 15 points for the Wildcats and Connor Foltz scored eight. Xavier Persun scored seven.

Aiden McKee produced a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds as Warrior Run defeated Northwest, 63-50 at the Milton Tournament. McKee also had four blocks, while Cooper Wilkins scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers. Landon Polcyn added 10 points with three steals.

The Defenders will face host Milton in Saturday’s championship. A full-court pressure early created key turnovers to allow Milton to take an early lead en route to its 56-37 win against Line Mountain. The Black Panthers also had some solid defensive play which ignited transition offense. Rylin Scott scored 15 points, all coming on 3-pointers, and JoeL Langdon added 12.

Gideon Vanderheid scored 17 points, but Lewisburg fell to Shamokin in both team’s season openers, 74-48. Shamokin led by 10 points after the first quarter. In addition to Vanderheid’s 17 points, Neyshawn Mabry scored eight.

Hughesville picked up a 51-38 win against North Penn-Mansfield to advance to the championship game of the Shikellamy Macy Minier Tip-off Tournament.

Jeff Fenstermacher scored 15 points, grabbed eight boards and had an assist. Jake Buck had 10 points, two assists and a rebound and Landen King had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Hughesville saw Logan Keiss score seven and grab eight rebounds while Brady Snyder had a team-high 10 rebounds. Karson Dominick scored 15 points for North Penn-Mansfield.

• Falin Reynolds scored a career-high 28 points and helped the Montgomery girls’ basketball team open its season with a 46-35 win against Addison, NY. Reynolds also had five rebounds and four steals. Haylie Heverly scored eight points for the Red Raiders, while Rubi Solano produced six rebounds and seven steals. Madisyn Miller added five steals.

Maddie Labatch scored a game-high 16 points and Emily George a career-high 11, helping Montoursville defeat host CMVT, 56-8 at the CMVT Tournament. Freshman Elsa Kehrer scored eight points in her first game. The Warriors built a 34-6 halftime lead and did not allow a first quarter point.

St. John Neumann’s lost its season opener against Danville, 31-16. Ivey Ackle had a team-high 12 points for the Ironmen, almost outscoring the Golden Knights herself.

Neumann was led by Gigi Parlante and Lizzie Weller, each of whom scored five points.

North Penn-Liberty defeated Canton, 39-31, at the Ryan Ostrom Memorial Basketball Tournament opener. Kaylee Graham had a near double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds, Haley Litzelman had 14 points and seven boards and Tierney Patterson scored seven. Kendall Kitchen had a team-high 16 for Canton.

• The Lock Haven women’s basketball team fought for the full 40 minutes to come away with its first PSAC victory of the season after downing University of Pitt-Johnstown in a clash of East-West opponents inside Thomas Fieldhouse.

The Bald Eagles, who are winners of four straight, improve to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the PSAC. The Mountain Cats fall to 4-2 overall with an 0-1 mark in conference.

Rhlyn Rouse was crucial for the Bald Eagles’ second unit, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds and two steals, while going 4-of-5 at the charity stripe. Jenadia Jordan, who hit the shot of the game late in the fourth quarter, added 12 points, six rebounds, two steals and a block.

Alana Robinson was the Bald Eagles’ overall offensive leader, after pouring in a season- and team-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while adding a team-high seven rebounds, two steals and a block.

Mansfield won their third straight game on Friday afternoon defeating Clarion, 82-71. The win improves the Mounties record to 4-1, tying their best start to a season since 2010-11.

Jasmine Hilton entered the game just 14 points outside the top 10 all-time in scoring for the Mountaineers. She was able to eclipse that mark in the middle of the third quarter with a foul line jumper. Hilton finished the game with 20 points and six rebounds.

Katie Sheeler ended the game as Mansfield’s second-leading scorer with 17 points on 3-7 shooting from three.

Kristen Fulford recorded 16 points and had a team-high five assists.

• Mansfield men’s basketball team opened their PSAC East-West crossover schedule with Clarion as the Golden Eagles edged out a close 77-75 victory.

Loyalsock graduate Saraj Ali and Michael Dickson led the team with 13 points each. The team shot 46.4% on the night, with an impressive first half earning 39 points.

To open up the scoring, Mansfield drilled an early 14-2 lead to push a great start to the season home opener. The Golden Eagles returned a 11-2 run to limit the Bald Eagles to 16-13 halfway through the first half.

Justice Shoats scored a game-high 22 points and Collin Jones, a Central Mountain graduate, netted 21 as the two carried Lock Haven to an 80-66 victory over visiting Pitt-Johnstown.

With the win, Lock Haven’s third straight victory, the Bald Eagles move to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in PSAC play.

For Shoats, it marked another monster outing for the Bald Eagle. Behind his game-high 22 points, he also dished out a career-high nine assists to go along with six steals, six rebounds and two blocks.

• The Mansfield Mountaineer men’s track and field distance unit raced the 5K at the Houghton December Classic. David Wootten was the top Mountie finisher finishing in a time of 15:49.58, good for 12th place. Owen Showers and Derek Simpson finished back-to-back in 23rd and 24th with times of 16:40.26 and 16:45.92.

• The Mansfield Mountaineer women’s track and field distance unit raced the 5K at the Houghton December Classic. Anna Duncan was the top Mountaineer finisher, taking 14th place with a personal best time of 19:39.96. Anissa Lytle and Marissa Allen ran their first career collegiate 5K finishing 23rd and 25rd, with times of 23:32:44 and 23:32.44.

• The Lock Haven women’s swimming team returned for day two of the Wooster Invite and had a stellar day of season bests inside the Ellen Shapiro Natatorium.

The Lock Haven women’s swimming team continued its successful trip to Ohio, going 12-for-12 in swims that resulted in season-bests, while 10 of those were personal-bests on day two of three at the Wooster Invite.

Holly Cleworth dominated the morning prelim session, swimming personal bests in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke (59.64). Her time in the 100-yard backstroke landed her a trip to the finals, where she electrified with a personal-best time of 58.28 to win the race, improving on her previous PSAC qualifying time.

Espefani Santos-Soto joined Cleworth with personal bests in the 100-yard backstroke with times of 1:14.65 and 1:15.42, respectively. Emma Pequignot added a personal best in the 400-yard IM with a swim of 5:00.95 in the prelims, before besting that effort with a 5:00.68 in the finals to place 15th.

Boys Basketball

Central Mountain 82, Bellefonte 77

BELLEFONTE (77)

Ryder Hamilton 4 0-0 8; Peyton Vancas 2 0-0 4; T. Servani 0 0-0 0; Derek Cox 6 8-12 20; Brady Wertz 3 0-1 7; Jacob McConnell 5 0-1 12; Liam Halterman 2 0-3 5; Ethan Tomasacci 2 2-3 6; Trevor Johnson 2 1-2 5; Jacob Corman 4 2-6 10. Totals 30 13-25 77.

CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (82)

Dom Longworth 2 0-2 4; Brady Myers 6 3-8 15; Hunter Hoy 10 8-11 30; Caleb Mahoney 2 0-2 4; Connor Foltz 2 3-6 8; Blake Walker 2 0-2 4; Kevin Grenninger 1 1-2 3; Xavier Persun 3 0-0 7; Max Verrelli 2 1-3 5. Totals 30 16-36 82.

Bellefonte              15 22 10 31 — 77

Central Mountain              16 25 20 22 — 82

3-point goals: Bellefonte 4 (McConnell 2, Halterman 1, Wertz 1), CM 6 (Hoy 4, Foltz 1, Persun 1).

Shamokin 74, Lewisburg 48

LEWISBURG (48)

Cooper Mowry 0 0-0 0; Gideon Vanderheid 6 2-3 17; Noah Pawling 2 0-0 4; Tai Britto 1 1-2 4; Nazir Meredith 0 2-2 2; Jack Blough 5 0-0 10; Neyshawn Mabry 4 0-1 8; Quin Michaels 1 1-2 3. Totals 19 5-9 48.

SHAMOKIN (74)

Rylan Paige 3 0-0 7; Joey Hile 6 1-2 15; Logan Steele 1 0-0 2; Cam Schoyer 2 3-4 7; Andrew Leffler 2 0-1 5; Colin Steinhart 1 0-0 2; Case Lichty 5 3-4 18; Jenssyn Shuey 7 0-1 13. Totals  29 7-10 74.

Lewisburg 12 9 9 18 — 48

Shamokin 22 21 14 17 — 74

3-point goals: Lewisburg 4 (Vanderheid 3, Britto 1), Shamokin 5 (Lichty 2, Hile 2, Leffler 1)

Milton 56, Line Mountain 37

LINE MOUNTAIN (37)

Nick Snyder 1 3-4 5; Kaden Dunkleberger 0 0-0 0; Aiden Tressler 2 0-0 5; Cameron Malafi 1 3-4 6; Kaiden Maurer 0 0-0 0; Ace Witmer 1 0-4 2; Chase Shutt 3 3-3 9; Bryce Smeltz 0 1-2 1; Kaden Derk 1 0-0 3; Even Swinehart 2 2-2 6. Totals 11 12-19 37.

MILTON (56)

Peyton Rearick 5 0-0 10; Y, Molina 2 0-0 6; C. Knarr 1 0-0 3; Joel Langdon 4 2-2 12; I. Minium 0 0-0 0; A. Krall  0 0-0 0; E. Walters  0 0-0 0; R. Scott 5 0-0 15; J. Harris 0 0-0 0; N. Hunter 2 0-0 4; M. Bickhart 0 0-0 0; L. Goodwin 1 1-2 3; J. Medina 0 0-0 0; L. Radke 0 3-6 3. Totals 20 6-10 56.

Line Mountain 7 4 13 13 — 37

Milton 13 13 19 11 — 56

3-point goals: Line Mountain 3 (Tressler 1, Derk 1, Malafi 1), Milton 10 (Scott 5, Molina 2, Langdon 2, Knarr 1).

Warrior Run 63, Northwest 50

NORTHWEST (50)

Josh Miner 8 2-2 23, Ryan Miner 5 1-2 15, Brady Shea 2 0-0 5, Jace McCoy 2 1-1 5, Tucker Crawford 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 4-5 50.

WARRIOR RUN (63)

Chase Beachel 1 0-0 3, Griffen Harrington 3 1-4 7, Carter Marr 1 2-4 4, Cooper Wilkins 4 2-4 14, Braego Ciesukoski 0 0-2 0, Aiden McKee 8 5-7 21, Landon Polcyn 4 1-1 10, Ryan Newton 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 11-22 63.

Northwest 12 13 11 14–50

Warrior Run 21 8 11 23–63

3-pointers: Northwest 10 (J. Miner 5, R. Miner 4, Shea). Warrior Run 6 (Wilkins 4, Beachel, Polcyn).

Records: Warrior Run 1-0. Northwest 0-1.

Girls Basketball

Montoursville 56, CMVT 8

MONTOURSVILLE (56)

Jill Stone 1 0-0 2, Jordan Chamberlain 1 0-0 2, Sydney Kuntz 0 0-2 0, Elsa Kehrer 4 0-0 8, Emma Wood 1 0-0 2, Nyla Kutney 4 0-0 8, Emily George 5 0-1 11, Maddie Labatch 7 2-2 16, Maddy Cohick 2 0-2 4, Danika Seese 1 0-0 3. Totals 26 2-7 56.

CMVT (8)

Brittany Brooke 2 0-0 4, Haylee Fisher 1 0-2 3, Rena Hans 0 1-4 1, Brenna Ult 0 0-2 0. Totals 3 1-8 8.

Montoursville 14 20 14 8–56

CMVT 0 6 0 2–8

3-pointers: Montoursville 2 (George, Seese); CMVT 1 (Fisher).

Records: Montoursville 1-0. CMVT 0-1.

Danville 31, Neumann 16

DANVILLE (31)

Ivey Ackle 6 0-2 12; Grace Everett 1 0-0 2; Madison Merrell 2 1-3 5; Hannah Hafer 1 0-0 2; Myleigh Seese 1 0-0 2; Harper Hendrickson 3 0-0 8; Brooke Woll 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 1-6  31.

NEUMANN (16)

Gigi Parlante 2 0-4 5; Shanniyah Tutler 1 0-0 2; Lizzie Weller 2 1-2 5; Sophie Reid 1 0-2 2; Breanna Nixon 0 0-0 0; Kallee Johnson 1 0-0 2; Tatum Wesneski 0 0-0 0; Savannah Smith 0 0-0 0; Emma Gallew 0 0-0 0; Adelyn Dawes 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 1-8 16.

Danville 4 11 10 6 — 31

Neumann 6 5 2 3 — 16

3-point goals: Danville 2 (Hendrickson 2), Neumann 1 (Parlante 1)

N.P.-Liberty 39, Canton 31

CANTON (31)

Stella Rockwell 0 0-0 0; Danah Wesneski 1 0-0 2; Jaylee Ward 0 0-0 0; Daviean Crowley 2 0-0 4; Kendall Kitchen 5 1-2 16; Cailyn VanNoy 3 0-0 7; Lynn Roupp 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 1-2 31.

NPL (39)

Tierney Patterson 3 1-1 7; Kaylee Graham 4 7-8 17; Lasha Roupp 0 0-0 0; Haley Litzelman 4 6-6 14; Kendall Graham 1 0-0 2; Payton Harer 0 0-0 0; Ciara Kieser 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 14-15 39.

Canton 12 2 10 6 — 31

NP-Liberty 10 6 13 10 — 39

3-point goals: NPL 1 (Graham 1).