Hornets put up fight, but fall to Lewisburg

By: Ed Weaver | PIAA District IV | February 23, 2012

WILLIAMSPORT - A first trip to districts can be tough for a basketball player.

Nerves can start to hit. Once you get down, it can snowball and games can get out of hand.

Their were plenty of times that the inexperienced Wellsboro Green Hornets could have folded against Lewisburg in the Class AA playoffs on Wednesday. Plenty of times the game could have gotten out of control.

But, the Green Hornets never got rattled, they never backed down and they kept the game tight the entire way.

However, in the end the Green Dragons shut down Wellsboro in the fourth quarter as the Green Hornets season came to an end, 48-38.

"They played hard, they definitely dug in and never quit," Wellsboro coach Mary Grab said.

All game long the Green Hornets were agressive on defense, giving the Lewisburg guards fits and getting turnovers. But, by the fourth quarter that agressive play was a little tougher for Wellsboro as they got into foul trouble.

"That and I think they were tired," Grab said. "Our point guard (Mikayla Palmer-Bacon) had three fouls going into the fouth quarter. I thought we really played well defensively, we didn't let them get into a rhythm. But, I thought they (Lewisburg) were patient and disciplined on offense. You can tell they are well coached."

Right from the start Lewisburg was in the lead on Wednesday as they led 14-10 after one quarter, and they had a six point lead at one point in the second quarter, but the Green Hornets fought back and when Mackenzie Marple grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and found Andrea Dean the Green Hornets were up 18-17.

Lewisburg came back and they quickly went up by four, but the Green Hornets wouldn't go away and Dean scored and Hannah Zuchowski got a put back to make it a 24-22 game.

After Lewisburg went up 26-22 on a pair of free throws by Mariea Kelleher the Green Hornets got a three from Marple and a Zuchowski layup to take a one-point lead into the half.

In the third quarter it again looked like Lewisburg might take control as they scored the first six points of the quarter to lead 32-27.

However, again the Green Hornets fought back, getting a layup by Zuchowski and a basket by Taylor Acorn to cut the deficit to 32-31.

After a three-point play by Kelleher put the Green Dragons back up by five, Wellsboro got two free throws from Acorn to cut the deficit to two.

A free throw by Kelleher made it 36-33 but Raina Rogers cut the deficit to 36-35.

As the quarter came to a close the Green Dragons again appeared poised to take control as they got three straight points to lead 39-35, but again the Green Hornets showed their resiliancy as Marple hit a three at the buzzer to cut the deficit to one entering the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Green Hornets struggled on offense and were unable to score in the frame, while Lewisburg went 7-for-10 from the foul line in the quarter to get the victory.

"It was a tough end, things just didn't go our way in the fourth," Grab said. "We weren't able to sustain the level we had through the first three quarters. The fouls were a problem, they were in the obnus and they are a good free throw shooting team. We had a lot of layups we missed for whatever reason today."

Wellsboro was led by Acorn with 10 and Zuchowski had eight.

"They really did a good job inside," Grab said. "They played physical and played good defense and did a good job on the boards."

Marple had eight points and Dean finished with six points. Rogers finished with four in the game and Palmer-Bacon had two points.

Lewisburg got 17 from Kelleher and 14 from Chelsea Boyer.

Article by Brian Fees of the Towanda Daily Review.

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