SMETHPORT — The Bradford Lady Owls’ first victory of the season Friday night at Smethport was a long time coming.
With star player Hannah Lary out for the early part of the season, the team has struggled, falling to Coudersport on the road in its first game last Friday and Otto-Eldred this past Tuesday. Both games were decided by at least 24 points.
But on Friday, the Lady Owls (1-2) were able to battle through some ups and downs on their way to a 30-20 victory over the Lady Hubbers (0-7), led by Alanna Benson’s game-high 13 points.
“It’s always great to get a win. I don’t care if it was ugly, I don’t care, just nice to get a win for these girls,” Bradford head coach Bob Hannon said after the game. “I think we played well in spurts and I think there were times we didn’t play quite so well.”
One of the spurts Hannon referred to occurred during early goings of the first quarter.
Bradford jumped out to a 9-2 lead with five points from Benson, including a trey, as well as field goals from Lea Kakolewski and Rylee Close. But Smethport stormed back with an 8-0 run that extended into the second quarter.
The Lady Owls led 9-8 after the first and after the Lady Hubbers’ 8-0 run, Smethport took its first lead of the game in the second quarter at 10-8.
Smethport dialed up the pressure during its 8-0 run by full-court pressing the Lady Owls, leading to some turnovers by Bradford and baskets on the other end for the Lady Hubbers. The team was also able to contain Benson at times with a box and one defense against her.
Bradford went on to take a 15-12 halftime lead.
“We’re a team that has to be able to create turnovers to be able to win basketball games,” Smethport head coach Chad Goodman said. “We just can’t sit back and play defense. We’ve got to create turnovers and minimize our opponents’ chances of scoring.”
Hannon gives credit to assistant coach Randy Ruffner for suggesting the team to play a zone defense during the second half, which paid dividends, leading to Smethport turnovers and baskets for Bradford in transition.
“I thought the girls played really hard in the first half,” Goodman said. “Just turnovers in the second half I thought were our downfall and obviously the inability to put the ball in the basket. I think we were like 7-for-38 inside the paint, you can’t leave that many points on the board.”
Bradford was able to adjust and went on an 8-1 third quarter run, which ended when Smethport’s Danielle Nelson nailed a three-pointer to cut the Lady Hubbers’ deficit down to seven points. Sierra Taylor then made one of two free throws near the end of the quarter to extend the Bradford lead to eight points heading into the fourth.
The Lady Hubbers then made it a four-point game with buckets from Sabrina Tanner and Coryn McClain, but that’d be the closest Smethport would get to within Bradford. The trio of Tanner, McClain and Nelson combined for 18 of the Lady Hubbers’ 20 points with each player scoring six.
Rylee Close knocked down some critical jumpers to end the Smethport run and Benson later hit two of three free throws at the charity stripe after drawing a foul on a three-pointer attempt.
Close finished behind Benson with six points for the Lady Owls on three field goals, while Ryley Cleveland tallied four points on two field goals.
“Rylee Close came down and hit some really big shots for us,” Hannon said. “I thought we got a nice job on the boards from Sierra, Kalie (Dixon), Lea. Ryley Cleveland came in and gave us a couple big buckets and some good rebounds for us.”
“The thing is in a game like this, it’s a fairly tight game for them to be able to make a couple of shots, (it) helps boost their confidence a little bit,” Hannon later added regarding Close and Cleveland. “They’re getting good looks at the basket and to be able to make those shots is only going to make them more confident the next time.”
Hannon is expecting Lary to return some time next week. The team’s next scheduled game is home against Port Allegany on Thursday, but Hannon also said there’s been some discussion about playing Johnsonburg on Tuesday.
The coach is excited about the 1-2 punch of Lary and Benson in the Lady Owls’ frontcourt and next week will give them a chance to see it play out.
“It’ll be great because I’m fairly certain that they’re probably not going to play a box and one on Alanna if Hannah’s back and if they do, we can make them pay for it,” Hannon said. “(The game against Port) will be a good test for us because they got a nice team and Bree Garzel has been having a good year, so that’ll be a good matchup with her and Hannah going at it.”
The Lady Hubbers, meanwhile, will be back in action today in what will be Oswayo Valley’s season-opening game at Smethport.
“It’s going to be another battle for us for sure,” Goodman said. “We’re not going to take anything for granted…It’s going to be our senior recognition day, so hopefully that gives us some incentive to play hard and get a ‘W’ for those girls.”
AT SMETHPORT
Bradford (30)
Alanna Benson 3 6-7 13, Close 3 0-4 6, Cleveland 2 0-0 4, Taylor 1 1-2 3, Persichini 1 0-0 2, Kakolewski 1 0-0 2. Totals: 11 7-13 30
Smethport (20)
McClain 3 0-0 6, Nelson 2 1-3 6, Tanner 3 0-2 6, Hungiville 0 2-3 2. Totals: 8 3-8 20
Bradford 9 15 24 30
Smethport 8 12 16 20
Three-point goals: Bradford 1 (Benson), Smethport 1 (Nelson); Total fouls: Bradford 14, Smethport 13; fouled out: Persichini (Bradford)
JV: Smethport won 35-34 on a jump shot from Abby Lutz at the buzzer.
