BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
WYALUSING — Wyalusing held off a feisty Athens squad in a defensive battle, 40-27, during NTL girls’ basketball action Wednesday.
The Rams ran out to a 24-12 lead at the half, but the Wildcats stymied them for much of the second half, holding them to 16 points, but Wyalusing’s defense was just as tough, never allowing Athens to get the deficit less than 10.
“Athens is very well coached, very good kids, they play really hard, and we knew that coming in,” said Wyalusing coach Nick Reynolds. “In the first half things were going our way a little bit offensively, and they made adjustments in the second half, and we kind of struggled executing on the offensive floor. You’ll have that when you’re going against really good coaches, but hats off to Athens and everything they’re doing, that’s a tough team. They challenged us tonight, and we were able to find ourselves on the other side.”
Emily Johns had a double-double of 12 points and 11 boards, while adding four steals, and a handful of blocks to lead the Rams with Alysha Botts getting 11 points, four assists, and two steals.
Rachel Wilson had six points, and seven rebounds, as Chloe Bennett notched six points, and two steals. Treanna Nickeson added three points, seven boards, two steals, and four assists, with Emily Fowler scoring two points.
“The kids played well,” said Reynolds. “We rebounded tremendously. I don’t know how many rebounds we had, but we still turned the ball over quite a bit. We knew it was going to be a hard test.”
Sara Bronson had nine points to lead Athens, while Addy Wheeler netted seven. McKenna Jarvis notched six, Alissa Vough added three, and Allison Kemp finished with two.
It was a back and forth start to the game, with Athens taking a 6-4 lead on a Bronson jumper off a Wheeler assist.
However, Wyalusing finished the first quarter strong on an 11-0 run. Bennett kicked things off with a 3-ball off a Botts assist, then Botts had a driving lay-up.
Nickeson bagged a jumper, followed by back to back buckets from Johns to put Wyalusing up 15-6 at the first horn.
A Wilson jumper made it 17-6 Wyalusing at the start of the second quarter, with Bronson getting a bucket to end the run.
The back and forth continued with Johns getting a put back, followed by Jarvis hitting a driving lay-up.
Bennett nailed another 3-ball to make it 22-10, with the two teams trading free throws down the stretch for a 24-12 score at the half.
A Botts bucket off a Wilson assist pushed Wyalusing’s lead to 26-12 to start the third. Athens would rally with a 4-0 run to make it a 10-point game.
Wilson answered with back to back floaters in the lane to push the Ram advantage to 30-16. Athens rallied again, cutting it to 30-20 off a pair of freebies from Wheeler, and a Bronson lay-up.
A Johns bucket, followed by a free throw from Nickeson, saw the Rams extend their lead to 33-20 early in the fourth.
A Vough 3-ball cut it to 33-23, but Botts came back with a lay-up to push the lead back to 12 points.
A Bronson free throw made it an 11-point game, but a Fowler driving lay-up pushed the lead back to 37-24.
A Wheeler 3-pointer made it a 10-point game late, but the Wildcats never got closer than that as Botts went to the line twice in the final throes of the game, going 3-for-4.
“The guards did a good job of getting down hill to get to the rim to try to pick up the foul, and get on the free throw line there in the fourth quarter,” Reynolds said.
Wyalusing won the JV game 34-30 as Liz Kilmer scored 27 points.
This is the Rams’ fifth straight win as they improve to 8-5, but a tough test looms on Friday as Towanda comes to town.
“We said that’s rivalry week,” remarked Reynolds. “We know what the challenge is on Friday. We know what we’ve got to do, and the kids are working towards it. That’s the game we look forward to every year.”
— —
PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
