Northern Tier Sports ReportTOWANDA — Points were hard to come by as but Towanda found enough of them to pull away from Athens for a 34-23 win during NTL girls’ hoops action Friday.
“Athens really challenged us tonight with their physicality and toughness,” said Towanda coach Rob Gentile. “They are so well coached. Kelly Allen and Bob Fauver have been doing this for a long time and they are 2 of the best in the business. Those kids don't know how lucky they are to have them on their side! They will always put a competitive team on the floor! I'm really impressed with how tough those kids are. Kudos to them for the fight that they showed tonight! If anyone thinks that Athens is going to roll over and be an easy out, they will be sadly mistaken. They challenged us for everything we got tonight!”
The Wildcats led 6-0 after the first quarter as Towanda didn’t score until 6:25 left in the first half.
Athens would lead 16-11 at the half, but an 18-3 third quarter in favor of the Knights put them up 29-19 going into the fourth.
In the final frame they held Athens to just four points to take the win.
“I was really pleased with the fight of our kids,” Gentile said. “Things did not go our way and Athens gave us a huge wake up call. Sometimes you need to be humbled, and that is exactly what happened tonight. This is just another learning experience, and hopefully it brought our kids closer together because they were really connected in that 2nd half! We had to be because we were lucky to escape that one with a win. We play 10 kids for a reason and tonight was a result of our depth. Our younger guys really stepped up and made some huge plays. Without all 10, tonight's result could have been a lot different.”
Brynn Woodruff had 12 points, on 12-for-20 shooting from the free throw line, six boards, and two steals to lead Towanda as Mary-Kate Eberlin added six points, and three steals.
Taylor Aquilio and Kennedy Heyer had four points apiece, with Aquilio getting three steals, and Heyer adding four steals.
Payton Perry, and Mya Maynard both netted three, as Maynard grabbed six boards, while Perry had two steals.
Towanda finished with 29 steals on the night.
Alissa Vough led Athens with seven points.
In the opening frame the Wildcats got buckets from McKenna Jarvis, Ava Hughes, and Brielle Mayo while Towanda couldn’t even get it in the hoop, even going 0-for-2 from the free throw line.
In the second Towanda started getting the ball down to Woodruff, who kept getting fouled. She went 7-for-10 from the free throw line, but the Wildcats got four points out of Jarvis, and a 3-ball from Vough to stay ahead.
Towanda found the range in the third, hitting three 3-balls as a team - two by Eberlin - while Woodruff continued to go to the foul line, shooting 4-for-6.
In the fourth Towanda held Athens to just two field goals as they pulled out the win.
It was a foul plagued game, with Towanda going 15-for-28 from the line and Athens 6-for-13.
Towanda (4-1) will host Elk Lake on Monday.
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
