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Williamsport girls pull off comeback in second half to defeat Hollidaysburg in close contest

By JILLIAN WALDMAN 4 min read

On Wednesday evening Williamsport’s took on Hollidaysburg in an exciting matchup. Coming into the game the Golden Tigers were on a 17-game win streak and had an unbeaten record. The Millionaires were looking to give Hollidaysburg its first loss, and pulled off an exciting comeback to do just that, winning 37-36.

The win moves the Millionaires to 11-6.

In the fourth quarter, it looked like the Tigers were going to come away with the win. Abby Mahon of Williamsport was able to sink a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 36-35. Minutes later, Payton Baney (10 points) was able to steal the ball and score to put the Millionaires ahead for the first time, 37-36, with a minute remaining as Williamsport held on for the win.

"Payton does it all, she is such an excellent player. She put in so much work to get to this point and she knows that she can't do it without the girls around her and we've been playing team first basketball,” stated Williamsport coach Justin Marnon. “We just battled and battled and battled right till the end. Good players rise to the occasion like that and that's exactly what Payton did."

Williamsport trailed by just three points, 18-15, at the half. At the start of the third quarter, the Millionaires came out with stronger defense than in the first half of the game and held Hollidaysburg to single digits in the third and fourth.

"We knew that we had to defend they like to push the ball and score they want to be a high-power defensive team, so we knew that we were going to have to play lockdown defense,” Marnon said. “When we held them to 18 points in the first half, I knew that the defense and rebounding needed to stay strong because they got a lot of second chance opportunities. The girls knew defensively, especially when the ball isn't going into the basket as much for us tonight, that they were going to have to step up."

After only scoring four points in the first, the Millionaires were able to score 11 points in each of the next three quarters which was led by Cici Rainier (15 points), who created a lot of momentum in the second half. She scored eight second-half points and created opportunities for fellow teammates.

"Cici is just another one of our senior leaders and she doesn't quit. She went down with a pretty bad cramp there towards the end, so it was unfortunate that she couldn't finish,” Marnon said.

With 4:28 left in the game, Rainier went out of the game due to injury.

“She made big shots for us, I thought that she played good defense and got her hand on the ball a few times and she made some mistakes with the ball going off of her hand and going out of bounds a few times,” Marnon said, “but she didn't let that get to her and she continued to play and was able to make some big plays for us in the second half.”

The game started with strong defense from Hollidaysburg only allowing the Millionaires to score four points in the first quarter as the Golden Tigers held an early seven-point lead heading into the second quarter.

"That's what we hang our hat on which is defense and rebounding" Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck stated.

While holding the Millionaires to only four points, their offense was just as strong scoring 11 points in the first period which was led by Lauren Stevenson (12 points) who scored 6 points in the first.

"We were waiting for Lauren to have her breakout game like this. When she sees the ball go through the basket it just does so much more for us," commented Jubeck.

Makenna Weimert (four points) was on a roll opening up opportunities for scoring by coming in with blocks and steals to help her team extend their lead over the Millionaires.

"That's how she plays, she's like our Energizer Bunny. She's getting her hand on a lot of tipped balls and that's what she's been doing for us all year," stated Jubeck.

The Millionaires move to 12-6 on the season and the Golden Tigers move to 17-1, Williamsport plays again on Saturday against North Schuylkill at the Magic Dome.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (36)

Hannah Dipangrazio 1 0-0 3, Clare Padamonsky 5 1-2 11, Jillian Sidney 0 0-0 0, Lauren Stevenson 4 4-4 16, Makenna Weimert 1 2-6 4, Isabella Yohn 1 0-2 2. Totals 12 7-14 36

WILLIAMSPORT (37)

Cici Rainier 6 1-2 15, Ella Wilson 2 1-1 5, Mia Nieto 0 0-0 0, Abby Mahon 1 0-0 3, Jaelynn Helmrich 1 0-0 2, Payton Baney 5 0-0 10, Dayianna Baines 0 0-0 0, Nadirah Tutler 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 2-3 37.

Hollidaysburg 11 7 9 9 - 36

Williamsport 4 11 11 11 - 37

3-point goals: Hollidaysburg 5 (Stevenson 4, Dipangrazio 1), Williamsport 3 (Rainer 2, Mahon 1).

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