By HUNTER O. LYLE
ALTOONA, PA – Some peaks are just too tall to climb. For the Otto-Eldred girl’s basketball team, their insurmountable mountain sat almost three hours to the South, donned Purple and Gold and had their hooks deep in the PIAA Class A bracket.
Clashing against Bishop Guilfoyle, the Lady Terrors’ season ultimately came to an end with a 71-30 loss in the first round of the state playoffs.
Despite the over 100 miles that lay between the Lady Terrors and Lady Marauders, the two teams are not complete strangers. Flash back to this time three years ago and they met on this exact same stage. At that point, O-E was as dominant as ever, capturing the District 9 title before making a run through the state bracket, a run that included a 12-point win over Bishop Guilfoyle in the second round. However, since then, the Lady Marauders have run the table.
Since the last time they saw each other, Bishop Guilfoyle has been unstoppable, recording back-to-back state championships. Earning a third-straight District 6 title this season, the Lady Marauders were a favorite to complete the three-peat in the state playoffs as well.
“We tried to focus on us. What we were going to try to accomplish was the only thing that mattered,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Shawn Gray. “We knew what we were up against. You watch (Bishop Guilfoyle) for a quarter and you understand just how physical, how skilled, how well coached they are. We wanted to focus on what we could do to improve and maybe look towards the future.”
The Lady Marauders immediately lived up to the hype. Tirelessly and relentlessly, Bishop Guilfoyle went in for the kill, using a smothering full-court-press as their weapon of choice. After winning the jump ball, O-E rarely got past half court as their advance down the floor was constantly interrupted by sweeping traps, double-teams and intercepted passes.
Meanwhile, the Lady Marauders had a greenlight from every inch of the floor. Despite opening with some streaky inefficiency, Bishop Guilfoyle chose to throw everything at the wall and see what stuck, rarely hesitating when given any sense of an opening. Although at first points came sporadically, even despite finding several looks in close, the Lady Marauders quickly caught fire thereafter, closing out the final four minutes on a 13-4 run.
“They’re super quick. They’re super long. We don’t face that up North. It’s kind of an ongoing thing, once you get up above Route 80, the competition definitely falls off. We just aren’t prepared for it,” said Gray, whose team surrendered 13 turnovers in the first quarter. “Until you see it, you don’t know what you’re in for. I thought we did a pretty good job early and then we just kind of fell apart.”
The momentum garnered by Bishop Guilfoyle in the first eight minutes quickly blossomed in the following eight. Using their size advantage, the Lady Marauders attacked the paint with post touches, head-down drives and an overwhelming presence on the offensive boards. Just when O-E began anticipating and adapting, Bishop then attacked from long range with equally efficient success, sparking a 15-5 run through the first four minutes.
Still battling intense and incessant pressure, the Lady Terrors continued to struggle for air. Playing frantically and rushed, their offense failed to find a footing while their defense hemorrhaged points. Despite finding some traction late, including a 3-pointer from Ayla Van Scoter just before the buzzer, O-E faced a 26-point margin on the scoreboard heading into the break.
While calling off the full-court-press at the start of the second half, Bishop Guilfoyle’s offense proved to be enough pressure on its own. Kickstarting the third quarter with back-to-back threes, the Lady Marauders added to their lead with ten quick and unanswered points, enacting a running clock for the remainder of the game.
Battling the Lady Marauders, the home crowd and the clock, the unavoidable finality of the Lady Terrors’ season became clear. Despite their best efforts, they were caught in an unbeatable current, one that outscored them 27-12 in the final 16 minutes of play. Early in the fourth, they waved the white flag, substituting in their reserves as they accepted the outcome.
In their final game of the season, five Lady Terrors made their way into the scoring column. Baylee Franics led the way with a team-high 13 points, followed by Rayel Hakes with six and Lexi Prince with four. Van Scoter also tallied four points in the loss while Jahden Smith scored three points.
“I’m so proud of this group. They’ve been through some stuff. If you told us at the beginning of the season that we’d accomplish some of the things we did this year, I’d have probably questioned it,” said Gray. “We have some really talented kids, we just need to stick together as a team and I think the future is bright for us.”
AT ALTOONA
Otto-Eldred (30)
Francis 4 5-6 13, Hakes 1 4-4 6, Prince 1 2-4 4, Van Scoter 1 1-2 4, Smith 1 0-2 3. Totals: 8 11-16 30
Bishop Guilfoyle (71)
Adams 6 0-0 15, Williams 4 2-4 12, Ruggery 5 1-2 11, Petrecca 4 0-3 9, Haigh 3 0-0 7, Homan 3 0-0 7, Yeskey 3 0-0 6, Bianconi 1 0-0 2, Geishauser 1 0-0 2. Totals: 30 3-9 71
Otto-Eldred 9 18 23 30
Bishop Guilfoyle 26 44 63 71
Three-point goals: O-E (5) Francis 2, Smith, Prince, Van Scoter, BG (8) Adams 3, Williams 2, Petrecca, Haigh, Homan; Total fouls: O-E 6, BG 14; Fouled out: None.
