NA Outlasts Altoona At Holiday Tournament, 62-56
At the Wright Automotive Holiday Tournament, the North Allegheny girls’ basketball team claimed a 62-56 win over the Altoona Mountain Lions on Friday afternoon. The Tigers built a 24-point lead in the first half and fended off a furious rally from the Mountain Lions in the second half for the non-section win.
The last time these teams met, North Allegheny outlasted Altoona for a 55-50 win in the second round of the 2018 PIAA playoffs. In the rematch, the Tigers flustered the Lions with their pressure defense and rolled to a 31-7 lead by the early stages of the second quarter. Leading the charge were Lizzy Groetsch and Emma Fischer who each netted 14 points on the day. Fischer knocked down three 3-pointers in the first quarter and was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.
Trailing by 24 points, Altoona finally settled in against the NA pressure and used a 9-0 run to climb back into the game, trailing 31-16. By halftime, the Mountain Lions had cut the score to 38-27.
In the third quarter, Altoona got as close as six points of the Tigers before NA went on 12-3 run to end the period. The Tigers perimeter shooting of Fischer and Abby Glass, who finished with six points on a pair of treys, fueled the NA run.
Led by junior guard Adalynn Cherry, Altoona refused to go away in the fourth quarter and trimmed the North Allegheny lead to 56-51 with 1:30 remaining. Cherry netted a game-high 23 points, George Washington University commit Caranda Perea totaled 12 points and senior Adaliz Corbin chipped in with 10 points.
Once more, North Allegheny responded to the Altoona rally and finished off the Mountain Lions in the final minute for a 62-56 victory.
With the win, North Allegheny improves to 6-0 on the season. Altoona drops to 4-3 on the campaign. The Tigers return to section on Jan. 2 with a visit to Norwin at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live as the Big 56 Conference Game of the Week. Randy Gore and Jonathan Spina will have the call.
Girls Basketball vs. Altoona, 12-27-19
| GAME SUMMARY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| Altoona | 7 | 20 | 10 | 19 | 56 |
| North Allegheny | 24 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 62 |