Lady Hornets cruise past Wyalusing

By: Ed Weaver  /  January 31, 2017

A 21-point second quarter powered the Wellsboro Varsity Girls Basketball team past Wyalusing on Monday, January 30.

The Lady Hornets started the game out well by jumping out to a 16-9 lead, then exploded for 21 points to put the game firmly in their control. Senior Autum Kitajima and sophomore Emma Poirier each hit big three-point shots and senior Janessa Davis and junior Lizzie Poirier each added 4 points. Wellsboro led 37-19 at halftime.

The Lady Hornets kept the pressure on in the second half and allowed only 17 points from Wyalusing. Wellsboro outscored the Lady Rams 23-17 in the half to pick up their 12th win the of season.

Emma Poirier finished with a game-high (tied with Wyalusing's Sarah Bird) 14 points, Davis and Kitajima both scored 12, and Lizzie Poirier had 10. Junior Rachael Tuttle added 6 points, freshman Cathryn Brought scored 4, and sophomore Heidi Zuchowski rounded out the scoring with 2 points.

Tuttle grabbed a team-high 17 rebounds, and now has 240 for the season and 574 for her career. Lizzie Poirier added 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Emma Poirier and Brought each grabbed 6 rebounds, and Kitajima had 8 assists. Tuttle, Davis, Kitajima, and Brought also added 2 steals each.

"We were worried about the girls looking ahead to tomorrow night's rivalry game with North Penn-Mansfield seeing how tonight was a Monday makeup game," said head coach John Davis after his 50th career win. "The girls came out focused and they played hard and I'm very proud of them."

The Lady Hornets now have three final games remaining this regular season: round two of the rivalry and Senior Night with North Penn-Mansfield later tonight, Athens on Thursday, and Troy next Tuesday all at home.

"They're going to all be tough games," Davis said of his remaining schedule. "They'll give us a good idea of where we'll stand for Districts coming up."

Wellsboro won the JV game 49-5, the fourth time this season they've held a team to 10 points or less. Zuchowski led the team with 17 first-half points and sophomore Luna Alexander had 8. The JV girls are now 13-5 on the year.

The win improves the Varsity team's record to 12-7 (11-2 NTL). The Lady Hornets remain a game behind Athens in the NTL Large School Division race and are a game and a half ahead of Troy.