DUKE CENTER — As the midway point of the season approaches this week, Otto-Eldred and Coudersport, who held the top two spots in the North Tier League in that order, faced off with the Lady Terrors pulling out an easy win on the back of Katie Sheeler and full-court defense.

The Lady Terrors set the tone early with aggressive and productive defense. After scoring on their first possession from a pair of made free-throws from Sheeler, O-E set up a full-court-press that would trouble Coudy for the next four quarters.

Play after play, the Lady Falcons would try to break the press with long passes or quick, short passes to try to push up court. However, neither approach worked as the Lady Terrors jumped out to an early 8-0 lead from fastbreak layups.

“We’ve actually changed our full-court-press in the last couple of practices, and I think it’s helped us a little bit,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Shawn Gray. “Instead of a traditional 1-3-1, we convert it into a diamond-and-one. I think what that did is free up my three guards. They can really be themselves, take some chances and cover it up in the back.”

When not in transition, the Lady Terrors resorted to their typical weapons from deep, however, as jump shots continued to miss their mark, O-E turned to their inside presence. Crisp passing and off-ball movement freed up lanes, which opened up opportunities for O-E’s forwards to score and gave them a 16-7 lead after one quarter.

“Early on everything was working for us. That’s kind of what we said before we came out, we wanted to jump out early at home and just let them know that they were going to be in for a fight tonight,” said Gray. “I haven’t been happy every night with how we start games, but tonight was definitely a happy start.”

Coudy continued to struggle in the second quarter, giving up a turnover on their very first possession. The same could not be said for the Lady Terrors, who opened up the quarter with a sunk 3-pointer from Anna Merry and was followed up by two more made shots from deep. From there, the Lady Terrors stepped on the pedal, and with the help of continuous steals and forced turnovers, scored 13 unanswered points.

The Lady Falcons eventually snapped the scoring run with four minutes remaining in the half and found some success deep in the paint and at the free-throw line, but faced a 35-14 deficit going into the break.

“We haven’t seen that kind of pressure on a night-to-night basis, so it’s definitely something we have to get better at,” said Coudersport head coach Joe Bunnell.

Early on in the third quarter, Coudy pressured O-E with a new found aggression on defense. Using their length, the Lady Falcons stripped passes and forced multiple turnovers in the opening minutes. However, their effort on defense struggled to materialize on the other side of the court as shooting woes and missed layups produced empty trips.

Facing that pressure, the Lady Terrors slowed the pace of the game. Instead of quick drives or pull-up jump shots, O-E settled around the perimeter, patiently passing the ball and cutting back door and off screens that found shooters open in the corners. As they connected on jump shots and converted fastbreak layups from more steals, the Lady Terrors padded their lead, going into the fourth quarter up 30.

With a running clock, as well as the Lady Terrors resting their heavy hitters for minutes at a time, the Lady Falcons finally found some success on offense. Despite seemingly rushing their offense, jump shots finally began to fall, rebounds came their way and the Lady Falcons were able to retain the ball to set up an offense. However, the game had already slipped away from Coudy and with the final buzzer, they dropped their second game of the season to O-E.

Sheeler once again led the Lady Terrors in points with 28 points on the night. Alongside her was Anna Merry with 14 points.

“I expect (Sheeler) to be the leader she is, get the ball to the right people when they’re open, be the head of the snake so-to-speak,” said Gray of his expectations going into the second half of the season. “(I want her) to just be her.”

For the Lady Falcons, Sierra Myers scored a team-high 13 points, followed closely behind by Emma Chambers with 12 points.

AT DUKE CENTER Coudersport (33)

Myers 6 1-2 13, Chambers 3 4-4 12, Rigas 1 0-0 3, Ruter 0 2-2 2, Popchek 1 0-0 2, Fink 0 1-2 1. Totals:

Otto-Eldred (55)Sheeler 8 10-10 28, Merry 5 2-2 14, Close 3 0-0 6, Heller 1 1-2 3, Rhinehart 1 0-0 3, Drummond 0 1-2 1. Totals:

Three-point goals: Coudy 3 (Chambers 2, Rigas), O-E 5 (Merry 2, Sheeler 2, Rhinehart); Total fouls: Coudy 14, O-E 12; fouled out:

JV: Coudy won 40-19