02/08/21 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Leah Homan of Bishop Guilfoyle puts Altoona’s Avery Burchfield under pressure.

Altoona and Bishop Guilfoyle’s Catholic girls’ basketball teams had not played for three years prior to meeting Monday at Pleasant Valley High School.

This meant that Kristi Kaack was able to train for the first time in her third season as coach of the Lady Marauders against the school, from which she not only graduated, but was the second best goalscorer of all time from 2003 to 2005 with 1,177 points.

It turned out to be another night for her memory book.

Sophia Warner made a 3-pointer just before the buzzer signaling the end of the first quarter to bring the Lady Marauders to four, and BG dominated the second quarter to stand in front of a small crowd of mostly with a 62: 36- Triumph to withdraw parents.

“It was exciting,” Said Kaack. “I really like (Altoona trainer) Chris (Fleegle) and I think he did a great job there. We were just excited to get the chance to play it. I think his kids worked really hard and we loved the opportunity to play.

“I spoke to Chris Drenning (trainer of the BG boys) about not having the Dawg Pound and the full gym. We said if we get where we want to be at the end of the year, we need to generate our own energy so we just need to focus on staying on the team and moving on from there. “

Altoona were beaten 19-2 in the second quarter. Top scorer Adalynn Cherry, who provided five points in the first quarter to keep the Lady Lions close, remained goalless for the remainder of the half and didn’t hit again until he scored a 3-point goal at the end of the third quarter that made it 49-25 Bishop Guilfoyle.

“(Cherry is) such a tough player and I have a lot of respect for the work she’s done.” Said Kaack. “I wanted to see how many points Aurielle Brunner had after the game, because in my opinion she is the reason we won this basketball game tonight even though she only had two points. The way she (Cherry) defended tonight, she did her job for every shot, and she couldn’t even look at the edge because (Brunner) was so close to her and she was suffocating. We couldn’t have asked more of her. “

Brunner’s length and wingspan make them a tough matchup for almost any player. She also added eight team-level rebounds.

“Aurielle is crazy” Bishop Guilfoyle Junior Leah Homan said. “She’s one of the best defenders I’ve ever seen. Watching her play defense is just fun. “

Homan scored 23 points and Teresa Haigh 17 points. Warner made three 3-points and scored 11 points.

“They hit all the cylinders and played very well” Said Fleegle. “They played their games well and their goal scorers scored. Sophia Warner shot the ball well. Listen, if all five girls are buzzing around on the basketball court, they’ll be a tough team no matter who they play against. They defend, they walk on the ground and they can score. “

Homan’s 3-hand at 4:06 put Bishop Guilfoyle to 62-30 and started the running clock, and both teams removed their starters.

“It’s nice to see the growth from the beginning of this year until now.” Said Kaack. “The girls don’t give up and always work hard, but on the defensive end of the floor we stayed disciplined and that helped us feel comfortable.”

Cherry finished the race with eight points and Taylor Lane and Avery Burchfield each added six points to Altoona.

“I told the girls that we played a very good team that played very well tonight.” Said Fleegle. “We weren’t our best, but Avery Burchfield did two 3s. Brooklynn Rupert saw the 3-ball in. (Brooklyn) Barron made a nice move and scored on the baseline. There are some things we can do with it. The problem is, and everyone is involved, but we have a game tomorrow. We can’t practice Wednesday, we practice Thursday and we have Central Dauphin Friday and another game Saturday. There’s not a lot of time in the gym. “

ALTOONA (36): Rupert 2 0-0 5, Cherry 3 0-0 8, Corbin 1 0-0 2, Lane 2 1-2 6, Burchfield 2 0-0 6, Barron 2 0-0 5, Gibson 1 0 -0 2, Cree 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, O’Keefe 1 0-0 2nd overall – 14 1-2 36.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (62): Brunner 1 0-0 2, Warner 4 0-0 11, Homan 10 1-2 23, Scipioni 4 0-0 9, Haigh 5 5-5 17, Adams 0 0-0 0, Bagley 0 0-0 0, McClurkin 0 0-0 0, Quinn 0 0-0 0, Farabaugh 0 0-0 0. Overall – 24 6-7 62.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 8 2 15 11-36

Bishop Guilfoyle 12 19 18 13-62

3-point goals: Altoona 7 (Cherry 2, Burchfield 2, Rupert, Barron, Lane); Bishop Guilfoyle 8 (Warner 3, Homan 2, Haigh 2, Scipioni).

Records: Altoona (7-4); Bishop Guilfoyle (7-1).

Officials: Jason Moschgat, George Figura, Dan Amrhein.

JV: Altoona, 40-33. Highscorer – Nevaeh Gibson, A, 10; Lainey Farabaugh, BG, Dec.

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