George is embracing that role quite well, too. And like last year’s leaders did for her, George is helping her younger teammates along the way. That experience and exciting potential came together Thursday and helped Montoursville win a thriller at home against determined Montgomery.

George played the game of her life, making a run at a triple-double with a career-high 23 points, 11 steals and six rebounds. When George fouled out late, freshman Marleigh Bainbridge stepped up huge, scoring her team’s final five points and helping the Warriors edge Montgomery, 51-49. George helped Montoursville build a 17-point third quarter lead and Bainbridge all but sealed the win after Montgomery pulled within two three times late in the game.

“We’re very young. We lost a lot of seniors from last year, so someone has to step up who knows the game and can help the underclassmen,” George said. “(Current Marywood freshman) Maddie Labatch was that leader for me, so I’m trying to be that kind of person for the younger players on the team.”

She certainly was Thursday. George was a force throughout the game and scored seemingly every way possible. The junior point guard made things happen on both ends and scored 19 of Montoursville’s first 33 points as the Warriors built a 33-16 lead two minutes into the third quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville's Emily George (24) takes a free throw in the third quarter.

George kept Montgomery at bay early in the third quarter when the Raiders started heating up and then tried landing a knockout blow early in the fourth. After hitting a pull-up 3-pointer earlier, George dribbled along the perimeter and drained a step-back trey before making her 10th steal and putting Montoursville ahead, 38-30. Her defense was outstanding as well and George produced 14 points and five steals by halftime, as the Warriors built a 28-15 advantage.

“I felt calm and relaxed. I was just in the zone,” George said. “I felt like I could go down and score each time and help the team.”

When George fouled out with two minutes remaining, it was her teammates turn to help her. Enter Bainbridge (11 points, 5 rebounds) who converted a 3-point play, going coast-to-coast while drawing the foul and making it, 49-44. After Montgomery again made it a two-point game, Bainbridge struck again and excelled under pressure.

Instead of crumbling, the freshman guard embraced the moment and owned it after being fouled with 13 seconds left. She calmly sank both foul shots and made it a four-point game. Those shots were monster ones because Paige Winters hit two free throws with 2.9 seconds left, making it a two-point contest before Jordan Chamberlain alertly found Reagan Tucker who dribbled out the remaining seconds.

“Watching her in seventh and eighth grade and talking to her those years, I said, ‘You’re going to have your moment to shine at varsity, but how are you going to react to it because high school basketball is tough,'” Montoursville coach Sean Tucker said. “She’s staying calm just like you saw tonight. She knew that everything was on the line and said, ‘OK, I’ll take this ball and when that opening happens I’ll take it to the basket and get to the line and hit foul shots.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville's Marleigh Bainbridge (30), Kayleigh Sheleman (42) and Montgomery's Addi Muhl (24) battle for a rebound in the third quarter.

That Montgomery put Montoursville in a position where it needed those shots to win the game spoke volumes about its growth. Like Montoursville, the Red Raiders feature just one returning starter and also are one of the area’s youngest teams.

But they revealed their potential against Montoursville, furiously rallying throughout the second half and answering every time it appeared the Warriors might pull away. Officially, the outcome will not go down as a victory but it sure felt like one.

“From Tuesday, getting beat by more than 30, and coming back the way we did tonight shows we have the fight; we have the resiliency. We have it in our kids,” Montgomery coach Mark Hauck said. “They just have to push through that wall and say, ‘Hey, we can do this, we can compete.'”

Montgomery relentlessly did so during the second half and it was all players delivering key shots and/or players. Six Raiders scored in the second half with Gabby Hill (6 rebounds, 4 assists) helping fan the comeback flames with a third quarter 3-pointer and Rihanna Arrendondo (4 steals, 7 rebounds) igniting a swarming defense.

Winters missed her freshman season a year ago with an injury but continues excelling in her first high school campaign, scoring 16 points and repeatedly coming up big at the line. Addi Muhl (13 points, 8 rebounds) had a big second half and her 3-point play off an offensive board cut it to 46-44 after Aubrey Hetner had first made it a two-point game 75 seconds earlier with two foul shots.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville's Kayleigh Sheleman (42) tries to shoot over Montgomery's Addy Brown (20) in the first quarter.

Anali Pick also converted a key 3-point play in the fourth quarter and Montgomery learned a lot about what it can do and where it could go.

“They kept believing in themselves that they could find their way back into the game and they just kept pushing through,” Hauck said. “It was everybody. That’s the way our system is built. Last year we had Falin (Reynolds) scoring 18 points per game. We don’t have that this year, so we’re preaching balance.”

Montoursville showing good balance in the fourth quarter helped it fend off Montgomery. Danika Seese (8 rebounds) converted a 3-point play after Hetner had made it a two-point game and Tucker also scored off an offensive board, putting the Warriors up five before Bainbridge hit two foul shots and made it, 46-39 with 2:36 remaining.

Montoursville staying composed after George fouled out was a big piece to the team’s development as well. Chamberlain clinched the win with her last-second pass down the sideline, while Tucker started the sequence which led to Bainbridge’s 3-point play after Montgomery had again closed within two.

“At points during the season you see kids kind of gravitate toward (George). They want her out there, but you’re not going to have her out there every time, so you have to grow as a team and someone has to grow into that position,” Walker said. “That’s what our players did.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Addi Muhl (24) shoots over Montoursville's Kaitlyn Dougherty (24) in the third quarter.

George would have enjoyed a better view those last two minutes but she would not change the result. The outcome was all that mattered.

“You have to trust your teammates. Marleigh stepped up with those free throws, Danika was driving to the basket and everyone was stepping up,” George said. “It’s nice trusting everyone on the team to help win the game.”

MONTGOMERY (49)

Paige Winters 3 8-11 16, Addi Muhl 4 5-11 13, Rihanna Arrendondo 2 1-2 5, Anali Pick 3 1-1 7, Gabby Hill 1 0-0 3, Aubrey Hetner 1 2-3 5, Addy Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 17-28 49.

MONTOURSVILLE (51)

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's Aubrey Hetner (1) tries the drive the ball around Montoursville's Kaitlyn Dougherty(14) in the second quarter.

Emily George 7 6-8 23, Kayleigh Sheleman 2 0-0 4, Danika Seese 1 2-4 4, Jordan Chamberlain 1 1-4 3, Marleigh Bainbridge 3 5-6 11, Sydney Kuntz 0 0-0 0, Elsa Kehrer 0 2-4 2, Reagan Tucker 2 0-0 4, Kaitlyn Dougherty 0 0-0 0, Lia Bozochovic 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 16-26 51.

Montgomery 5 10 15 19–49

Montoursville 13 15 7 16–51

3-pointers: Montgomery 4 (Winters 2, Hill, Hetner); Montoursville 3 (George 3).

Records: Montoursville 2-3. Montgomery 1-3.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville's Emily George (24) tries to drive around Montgomery's Rihanna Arrendondo (11) in the first quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville's Emily George (24) tries to shoot around Montgomery's Gabby Hill (55) in the first quarter.