MONTGOMERY–As soon as a passing lane appeared clear, Emily George often sprinted toward it, intercepted the ball and created points.

Like a football safety lurking in the secondary, George erased potential scoring opportunities and turned ferocious defense into offense. George made nine steals Thursday at Montgomery and that energized the entire team as Montoursville won, 54-22.

George played a super all-around game, also scoring a game-high 18 points, grabbing five rebounds and adding four assists. Still, it was her defense which stood out most. George had five first quarter steals and that helped Montoursville (2-3) build a 14-7 lead it would build on each quarter.

“I haven’t been shooting well, so it was good to get some steals and layups and be able to help that way,” George said. “I like getting steals.”

The senior guard sure produces a lot of them.

George made 10 steals in last year’s two-point win against Montgomery and is averaging 5.4 per game. After Montgomery (1-2) cut a 23-point deficit to 39-22 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, George picked off a pass, converted a layup off it and fueled a game-ending 15-0 run.

“That’s what we want to do with her. We want to get her out in transition. She’s one of the fastest girls in the whole district, just straight-line speed,” Montoursville coach Travis Heap said. “She makes our team go. That’s what we’ve been missing the last couple games, and she really broke out of her shell. That was nice to see because we had been waiting for that.”

George was one of several Warriors who helped the team bounce back following a frustrating four-point loss at Danville last Saturday. Kayleigh Sheleman collected her second double-double, going for 11 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. Reagan Tucker was a point from a double-double (9 points, 10 rebounds) and Marissa Sweeley excelled off the bench with six points, six rebounds and four steals.

George and Sheleman set the tone for Montoursville last summer and the two seniors have helped Heap ease his way back at his alma mater where he returned for the first time since leading Montoursville to the 2017 District 4 Class AAAA championship.

“Coming in for my first year and trying to change the culture of the program, having two senior leaders in Sheleman and George is huge and they have done a great job,” Heap said. “They did a great job all summer building this with me and kind of taking those expectations that I have and portraying it to the girls.”

Both are leading through words and action, consistently filling up the stat sheet. George can be a weapon when not scoring and that is something she is trying to have the younger players understand. That seems to be happening as all the players Heap used Thursday contributed in a positive way, including Trinity Belle who had five points and four rebounds off the bench.

“You can help the team in a lot of ways,” George said. “We’re trying to get the younger girls without much varsity experience to know that you can get rebounds and play defense and leave it all out there. There are more ways that you can help than just scoring.”

Defense and rebounding are among those, and Montoursville checked both boxes against Montgomery. The Warriors allowed just six field goals, forced 26 turnovers and won the battle on the boards, 45-23. Putting all the facets together helped the Warriors use a 14-0 run bridging the middle quarters to build a 28-9 advantage.

“We have a very good mix,” George said. “We haven’t really had a good shooting night yet. We’re still waiting on that, but we we’re getting rebounds and we were really good on the boards.”

“Shell attacking the glass is going to help us a lot. She’s working for us, and Reagan is still learning the game but is impressive,” Heap said. “She attacks the glass and it’s all coming together.”

The score might not indicate it, but Montgomery is putting the pieces together after coach Sean Walker and assistant Emily Pardee took the jobs during the preseason. The Red Raiders are young but the played much better against Montoursville than they had against South Williamsport the previous night and consistently fought back throughout the first three quarters when it appeared Montoursville was about to land the knockout blow.

There is a learning curve with so many moving parts, but Montgomery showing the fight it did Thursday was a step in the right direction.

“I told the girls after that whipping (Wednesday) that for the time in my career as a coach, I watched the sun rise because I couldn’t sleep,” Walker said. “For the last three weeks I’ve been trying to get with these girls and make them understand the energy and effort with a good attitude can send you a long way.”

Montgomery plays its third game in three nights Friday at St. John Neumann, but then can catch its collective breath and go back to the lab. The Red Raiders opened their season with an exciting win at CMVT and as they gain more experience playing together, more nights like that could be coming.

“That’s what we do as a coaching staff, we fix,” Walker said. “That’s what Emily and I are doing; we’re teaching. We always say step by step as a family, we’re going to get better.”

Montgomery certainly has an excellent player to build around in Paige Winters. The junior guard is targeted by nearly every defense Montgomery encounters but does a bit of everything to help the team, scoring 12 points, grabbing seven rebounds and making four steals against Montoursville.

More impressive than the numbers is how Winters consistently generates them. A ferocious competitor, Winters constantly was hitting the floor, either fighting for rebounds, steals or loose balls. Early in the fourth quarter, Winters fell to the ground going for a rebound, but while on the floor still managed to find the ball, tie up a Montoursville player and force a jump ball that went Montgomery’s way.

“She gives you everything. One of my biggest things with her is, ‘Why don’t they talk about you?’ She just shrugged her shoulders and I said, ‘Give them something to talk about,'” Walker said. “I told her she has the skill, she can get to any spot and take a shot, she can get to the basket at will and she has the court vision. She’s not 6-feet tall but she can be dominant in this league.”

MONTOURSVILLE (54)

Emily George 8 2-3 18, Kayleigh Sheleman 5 1-2 11, Marleigh Bainbridge 1 0-0 2, Reagan Tucker 3 3-8 9, Elsa Kehrer 0 0-0 0, Trinity Belle 2 1-2 6, Sydney Kuntz 1 0-0 2, Marissa Sweeley 3 0-0 6. Totals 23 7-15 54.

MONTGOMERY (22)

Paige Winters 3 5-7 12, Rihanna Arredondo 1 0-2 2, Aubrey Hetner 1 2-2 5, Addy Brown 0 0-0 0, Gabby Hill 1 0-0 3, Anali Pick 0 0-0 0, Brooke Dietrich 0 0-0 0, Maddie Hamm 0 0-0 0, Isabella Goliash 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 7-13 22.

Montoursville 14 12 13 15–54

Montgomery 7 2 12 1–22

3-pointers: Montoursville 1 (Belle); Montgomery 3 (Winters, Brown, Hill).

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