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A 12-2 first quarter and a 15-2 third quarter by the North Penn-Liberty Lady Mounties propelled them to a 41-31 victory over the Wellsboro Lady Hornets on Monday, February 6.

Liberty held Wellsboro to just a pair of made foul shots in the opening quarter as they hit three shots from the floor and went 5-of-7 from the foul line to take an early lead. The Lady Hornets rallied in the second, getting some early steals that turned into points on the other end of the floor. As the quarter wound down they pulled within two points, and eventually tied the game at 17-all as they closed the half out on a 15-5 run.

Once the second half got underway the Lady Mounties again put the clamps on the Wellsboro offense, holding them to just two points in the third quarter, as they went on a 15-2 run. Wellsboro continued struggling offensively as they didn’t make a basket until midway through the final quarter.

Liberty led by as much as 40-19 late in the game until Wellsboro made a few shots, bringing it to a 10-point game.

“Liberty has a nice team, a lot of seniors, tall and athletic,” Wellsboro head coach Darrell Morris said. “Their length affected us on offense. We had a rough first quarter, then dominated the 2nd quarter to tie it up at the half. I felt like we had all the momentum, but a two point 3rd quarter was too much for us to overcome. We are young and hopefully we learn to play more consistent throughout the game.”

Jaclyn Nelson and Haley Litzelman paced the Lady Mounties with 13 points apiece, with all of Nelson’s points coming in the second half. Sidney Landis finished with 8 points, Kaylee Graham added 5, and Elizabeth Ritchie rounded out the scoring with 2 points.

Maddy Mascho and Chloe Brandenburg led Wellsboro with 11 points each while Ella Posada had 5 points and Paige Logsdon finished with 4. Logsdon also grabbed 15 rebounds and Posada had 3 steals and made 2 assists.

“We changed up our defense at halftime and told the girls we have to try to score at least 10 points a quarter and play as a team,” Liberty head coach Tracy Gregory said. “We didn’t hit our shots in the 2nd and we could’ve boxed out better at times on the defensive end, but we’ll take what we can get. The girls have been great all season long, they’ve worked very hard and we want to give 150% and bring lots of intensity for 32 minutes.”

North Penn-Liberty improves to 11-8 overall and 9-5 in the NTL Small School Division. Wellsboro falls to 7-11 (7-6 NTL Large School Division).