By HUNTER O. LYLE
DUKE CENTER, PA – Returning back to their home court for the first time of the new year, the Otto-Eldred girl’s basketball team decimated Smethport, beating the Lady Hubbers 47-12 as they picked up their fifth North Tier League win of the season.
The Lady Terrors wasted no time taking control of the contest. Facing a Smethport team lacking skilled ball handlers, O-E quickly implemented an aggressive full-court-press that immediately gave the Lady Hubbers problems. Those problems took the form of several turnovers, which translated to points in transition for the Lady Terrors.
With fastbreak shots falling both inside and out, including a 3-pointer from Lexi Prince, O-E amassed a 7-0 lead within the first minute and a half. Underscoring their early intensity was their presence under the boards, where the Lady Terrors, led by Rayel Hakes, came away with several second chance opportunities and points at point blank range. As Smethport struggled to cross half court, the deficit swiftly got out of hand. Held scoreless for over seven minutes, the Lady Hubbers looked up at a 19-2 disadvantage entering the second quarter.
“We have to pick up (our aggressiveness) a little bit. We’ve been in practices basically saying just don’t hesitate. Maybe not pointing out aggressiveness, just trying to get rid of the hesitation, especially on the offensive end,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Shawn Gray. “We’re trying to get that out of our mentality and I think with that it leads to aggressiveness.”
Despite scoring on their first possession of the second, a triple from Cassidy Szuba, points would still be hard to come by for the Lady Hubbers in the next eight minutes of play. As the Lady Terrors continued to snuff out any sense of comfort with constant pressure, their offense seemed unstoppable. Continuous player movement ripped lanes open through the paint while efficient and effective shooting from long range left Smethport scrambling for answers. Those answers ultimately failed to materialize as the Lady Hubbers were outscored 16-6, widening the margin on the scoreboard to 27 heading into halftime.
With such a hefty lead already under their belts, the Lady Terrors opened the second half with an influx of reserves. Playing in tandem with a mesh of rotating starters, the mix of youth and experience continued to dominate the Lady Hubbers throughout the third quarter, forcing turnovers and refusing to allow a single point to be scored against them.
“I thought our reserves did great. Having some leadership out there, mixing Rayel (Hakes), Baylee (Francis), Ayla (Van Scoter) in with some of the younger girls really helps and gets them in their positions and gets them a little more comfortable,” said Gray. “We’re going to need some of them down the stretch as the year goes on so we want to get them some experience and confidence and see where that leads us.”
As the Lady Terrors continued to build upon their already sizable advantage, Smethport struggled to get anything to go their way. After scoring eight points in the first half, the Lady Hubbers found just four in the final 16 minutes of play, ultimately suffering their fifth loss of the season behind a 35-point defeat to O-E.
“Honestly, our post-game speech was that we have to be more confident. I don’t feel like we’ve actually got to a comfortable stage yet or a confident stage individually,” said Smethport head coach Chad Goodman. “I’ve seen us play well and I’m confident that we can have a much better performance than we did tonight. I think in the second half of the season we’re going to start turning things around.”
Eight Lady Terrors made their way into the scoring column, with Ayla Van Scoter leading the way with 10. Baylee Francis followed closely behind with nine while Prince and Hakes both contributed seven points towards O-E’s seventh win of the season.
For Smethport, Madey McKean finished with nine points while Cassidy Szuba ended with three.
Playing their first of three games this week, the Lady Terrors are quickly approaching the halfway mark on the season. Rounding out the first half, O-E will face Coudersport on Thursday in hostile territory before seeing Cameron County back at the Terror Dome on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
“I think (our confidence) is good. We’re trying to learn from our one league loss that we had. In this league, there’s definitely some parity this year, which is nice. We have to come ready to play every night,” said Gray. “I think we’re trending in the right direction at least and that’s really what you want. We’re getting a little better every time out.”
AT DUKE CENTER
Smethport (12)
McKean 3 2-2 9, Szuba 1 0-0 3, Tanner 0 0-2 0. Totals: 4 2-4 12
Otto-Eldred (47)
Van Scoter 4 0-0 10, Francis 4 0-0 9, Prince 2 1-2 7, Hakes 2 3-6 7, Smith 2 1-2 5, Edminster 1 2-4 4, Bickford 1 0-0 3, Rounsville 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 7-14 47
Smethport 2 8 8 12
Otto-Eldred 19 35 41 47
Three-point goals: SM (2) McKean, Szuba, O-E (6) Prince 2, Van Scoter 2, Francis, Bickford; Total fouls: SM 13, O-E 7; Fouled out: Tanner (SM).
