Lady Hornets' season comes to an end
By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | March 5, 2017
The Wellsboro Varsity Girls Basketball team's season came to an end in a 54-43 loss to Loyalsock on Saturday, March 4.
"I'm very proud," said head coach John Davis. "We fought hard all year long, and I told the girls in the locker room to be proud. We didn't win tonight we're playing at the level of teams that are state ranked. I couldn't be more proud of them."
The Lady Hornets found themselves in a 6-0 hole before senior Autum Kitajima cut the lead in half with a three-pointer, but their struggles continued as they only made one more basket the entire first quarter. Loyalsock closed the quarter on a 4-2 run to lead 10-5.
The Lady Lancers built an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter before Wellsboro finally started making shots. Junior Lizzie Poirier scored 9 points, after being held scoreless in the first, and sister Emma Poirier scored 4 to keep Loyalsock's lead to under 10 points. The Lancers led 27-18 at the half.
Wellsboro rallied in the third to cut Loyalsock's lead to 7 points. Two quick buckets by Lizzie Poirier and senior Janessa Davis cut the lead to 27-23. Wellsboro could never get closer than three points for the rest of the quarter.
Loyalsock waited until the fourth quarter to score the most points, as they outscored Wellsboro 16-12. Loyalsock got up by as many as 13 before Wellsboro whittled it back down to 10, but the Loyalsock managed to keep that gap the rest of the game to take third place in the district and end the Lady Hornets' season.
Maddie Fox led Loyalsock with 17 points, Sam Stopper scored 11, and Charlotte Neylan and Sarah Van Fleet scored 10 points each.
Lizzie Poirier led Wellsboro with 17 points, Kitajima had 9, Emma Poirier finished with 7, Davis had 6, and junior Rachael Tuttle added 4. Tuttle finished with 12 rebounds, Lizzie Poirier grabbed 7, and Davis grabbed 6. Lizzie Poirier and Davis each finished with 3 assists.
Saturday's game marks the end of the careers of Davis, Kitajima, and Jessica Grab. Davis finished with 236 career points, 152 rebounds, 145 assists, and 101 steals. Kitajima scored 205 career points, had 150 assists, and 113 rebounds, and Grab scored 241 points, had 82 assists, and 142 rebounds.
The future is bright for Wellsboro basketball, as the Lady Hornets return their top three scoring leaders. Lizzie Poirier finished the season with 336 points, Emma Poirier finished with 197, and Tuttle finished with 184. Tuttle's 12 rebounds in her final game of the season gives her 334 for the year, the most in Wellsboro Girls Basketball history for a single season*. She currently has 668 career rebounds.
"We're not going to change up too much," Davis said looking ahead to next year. "We're going to hit the gym in the off-season, I'll give them a break here and then we'll start doing some open gyms, then it's time to get ready for next year. It was a fun year, and the girls accomplished a lot."
Wellsboro ends the season with a 17-10 record.
* - Records may not be accurate to date due to incomplete stats. If you know of a record not currently listed on this page, or have game statistics or film from previous years, please contact us.
Ed Weaver is the owner of Circle W Sports in Wellsboro, PA, is the Sports Director for The Home Page Network and the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
