NTL GIRLS' BASKETBALL: WYALUSING HOLDS ON LATE TO BEAT TROY (2025-01-04)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportWYALUSING — It’s been a roller coaster season so far for Wyalusing, but Friday was definitely a high point as the Rams pulled out a 43-40 win over the defending NTL champions, Troy, in girls’ basketball action.
“It’s good to be on an up right now,” said Wyalusing coach Nick Reynolds. “The kids are working hard, they prepared very well. We knew from last year, when we played them here, what we had to do. We played well with them in the first half, and we needed to put four quarters together. Everything we’ve done in the schedule so far this season has been preparing us for this game. We knew them coming here it was going to be a really tight game, and the kids executed, and played very well.”
Troy led by two going into the fourth, with the game tied at 38-all with just under four minute to play. However, the Rams out scored them 5-2 the rest of the way to get the win.
Wyalusing survived on a night where they had 25 turnovers, but did a good job of limiting Troy offensively - they only had eight two point field goals on the night - as they worked hard to contest everything. Offensively, they got enough contributions across the board to eke out the win.
“It feels good, we worked really hard,” Treanna Nickeson said. “We just wanted to stay wide, and not let them beat us on the outside, and then recover when they were driving.”
Nickeson is more known for her defense, but the guard led her team with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, while adding six boards.
“I just went went in, and acted like no one was watching me, and just played the best that I could,” she said.
Alysha Botts added 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting, while nabbing six boards, and two steals. Rachel Wilson, who was honored before the game her getting her 500th career rebound last week, had eight points, 12 rebounds, and three assists, with Chloe Bennett getting six points, and three steals.
Emily Fowler finished with three points, and Emily Johns rounded things out with two points, four boards, and five assists.
“They have a lot of athletes that are tough defensively, and we knew we were going to kind of struggle trying to find a way to score,” explained Reynolds. “We had a couple of tactics that were going to work, and we can kind of capitalized on them a little bit, but we knew we just had to out rebound them. We knew we had to limit their second chance rebounds, and they did a great job.”
Troy had just as hard a time putting the ball in the basket as the Rams did. They scored just four points the fourth quarter, with one field goal, while netting just six in the second. They finished with 15 less turnovers than Wyalusing but couldn’t turn those into points.
Down the final two minutes in the fourth Troy missed six straight shots, many of them of them in the paint, as they looked to either tie or take the lead.
“We definitely had a bad shooting night,” said Troy coach Curtis Miller. “We just didn’t move the ball well enough inside, and that’s something that we’ve got to take a look at on film. We’ve definitely got to get better. I liked our aggressiveness on defense, I thought we did a nice job. We got into a little bit of foul trouble, but overall, the girls did well. Wyalusing had a great game plan coming. Their girls were ready, their coaches had them ready, and just congratulations to them.”
Kailyn Sterling led the Trojans with 17 points, scoring seven of her team’s eight buckets from inside the arc. Alyssa Parks added 10, as Giana Renzi had eight points and four assists.
Gloria Andrews scored three, while Ella VanNoy finished with two.
Parks got Troy off to a fast start, getting a steal and lay-up, then hitting a 3-ball to put the Trojans up 5-0.
Wilson scored a lay-up off a Johns helper to get the Rams on the scoreboard, but a Sterling put back at the other end made it 7-2 Troy halfway through the first quarter.
Wilson returned the favor, finding Johns for a bucket, to make it 7-4. Parks’ second 3-ball of the game put the Trojans up 10-4, followed by the two teams trading free throws.
A Nickeson 3-ball off a Botts pass cut it to 12-9. Renzi would go 1-for-2 from the line to make it 13-9, but a Nickeson runner made it a 2-point game.
With 2.1 seconds left VanNoy was fouled going to the rim, and knocked down both freebies for a 4-point Trojan lead at the first horn.
Troy ran out quickly to start the second as Sterling had back to back buckets for a 19-11 lead.
The Rams answered with an 8-0 run as Botts got a steal, the lay-up, and a foul, followed by her finding Bennett for a 3-ball to make it a 2-point game again.
Wilson then hit two freebies to knot the game up at 19-19.
Another Sterling lay-up put Troy back up 21-19 just past the halfway mark of the second, but Wyalusing finished the half on a 7-0 spurt, with four of the points coming from Nickeson, sandwiched around a Fowler 3-pointer, putting the Rams up 26-21 at the half.
Wyalusing extended their lead to 28-21 off a Bennett basket to start the third, but a 3-pointer form Renzi, and a Sterling steal and lay-up saw the Trojans cut the lead to 28-26.
Nickeson answered with a driving lay-up, but a free throw out of Parks, followed by a 3-pointer from Andrews tied the game up at 30-30 halfway through the frame.
Nickeson scored on a Wilson pass to put Wyalusing up two, but Troy came back with a 5-0 run. Sterling hit a bucket off a Renzi assist, then Renzi nailed a 3-ball with just under a minute left in the third for a 3-point Trojan lead.
Wilson would hit two freebies at the other end to make it a 1-point game, but Renzi had the final say of the quarter, going 1-of-2 from the free throw line for a 36-34 Troy lead going into the fourth.
Wilson made it a 1-point game with a free throw to start the fourth, then Botts put them up 37-36 with a driving lay-up as the clock hit the 5:24 mark. Another Wilson freebie made it 38-36 with five minutes to go.
At the other end Parks got to the line, making 1-of-2, then, on their next offensive possession, Sterling made 1-of-2 from the free throw line to knot the game up at 38-all with 3:57 left to play.
Nickeson would get fouled at the other end, and put the Rams up 39-38 as she went 1-of-2 with 2:25 left to play.
After a Troy miss Botts scored on a lay-up to make it 41-38. Sterling, though, kept Troy within striking distance with a lay-up of her own, as the Rams led 41-40 with 1:26 left to play.
Troy would force a Wyalusing turnover, but Nickeson drew a charge on the defensive end to give the Rams the ball back.
The Trojans would send Botts to the line, who hit 1-of-2 to make it a 2-point game with 54.2 seconds left.
Troy would get two shots at the rim on their next possession but neither found its way down as the possession ended in a jump ball.
Wyalusing had the arrow, but Sterling got a steal right off the bat. Her lay-up rolled off, but Troy got the ball back during the scrum and called timeout.
Once again, Troy got two good looks at the basket on their next possession, but just couldn’t get it to go. Wilson grabbed the defensive board, then found Bennett, who was fouled.
She went 1-for-2, putting Wyalusing up 43-40 with 7.1 seconds left to play. Troy tried a half court shot to tie, but the ball bounced out, giving the Rams the upset.
The loss was Troy’s first defeat to a league team since they fell to NEB in the NTL Showdown two years ago.
Falling to 5-4 the Trojans will look to rebound as they host Towanda next Wednesday.
Wyalusing (4-5) inches back towards .500 with three games next week, starting with Sayre at home on Monday with a 6 p.m. start.
“We want to go to the Showcase,” Nickeson said. “So we’re just going to practice, and play our best, and try to come out with our goal.”
— —
PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
Print Friendly Version
