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Three NTL teams from Tioga County took part in the semi-final round of the NTL Showdown on Thursday, February 15. The Wellsboro Hornets hosted a double-header with Northeast Bradford, while North Penn-Mansfield was on the road in Wyalusing.

All three teams were victorious on the night, and will play in the finals on Saturday, February 17 at Mansfield University. The Lady Hornets take on Athens at 6:00 p.m., followed by Wellsboro and North Penn-Mansfield boys.

Wellsboro Lady Hornets 55, Northeast Bradford 32

The Wellsboro Lady Hornets cruised past Northeast Bradford to kick off the NTL Showdown semi-finals on Thursday, February 15.

The Lady Hornets jumped out to a 14-6 lead after the first quarter, led by Tory Self with 9 points. Wellsboro outscored NEB 17-4 in the second to go up 31-10 at halftime and put the game out of reach. Wellsboro kept up the scoring in the second half, even from their bench, and outscored the Lady Panthers 24-22 to win 55-32.

“We wanted to have good ball movement on offense. We knew they would be in a zone and we worked on that, and could do a little better with it, but we’ll face a different team Saturday, so we’ll have to get ready for that tomorrow,” said head coach John Davis.

Self led all scorers with a game-high 23 points and added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 7 steals. Self is now up to 485 points in a Lady Hornet uniform, and currently sits in 5th all-time for points in a single season in Wellsboro Girls Basketball history.

Lizzie Poirier backed Self up with 12 points, Cathryn Brought scored 8, Emma Poirier had 5 in her first game back from injury, Rachael Tuttle finished with 3, and Luna Alexander and Mikel Shabloski chipped in with 2 points each. Tuttle had 10 rebounds and 4 steals, Lizzie Poirier added 6 rebounds with 2 assists and 2 steals, Brought and Shabloski both grabbed 2 rebounds, and Liza Manning blocked 2 shots.

The win improves the Lady Hornets’ to 21-2 overall. Next up for Wellsboro is a rematch of last year’s NTL Showdown final. The Lady Hornets will face off with Athens for the third time this season at Mansfield University’s Decker Gym starting at 6:00 p.m.

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Wellsboro Hornets 80, Northeast Bradford 27

The Wellsboro Hornets increased their win streak to 21 games with a lopsided 80-27 victory over Northeast Bradford in the NTL Showdown semi-finals on Thursday, February 15.

Despite a 10-day break from their last game, to Thursday’s Showdown semi-final, the Hornets showed no signs of rust. Right from the opening tip the Hornets came out firing on all cylinders. A turn-around jumper in the paint by Dalton Prough put the Hornets up early, then Brandyn Tuttle took over. Tuttle scored 9 points in the quarter to lead the Hornets to an 18-6 lead after the opening quarter.

Wellsboro went on a 21-10 tear in the second to put the game completely in their favor. This time Prough took over with 14 points. Tuttle added 5 more points in the quarter and Andrew Brelo chipped in with two as the Hornets held a 39-16 lead at the half.

The third quarter was the Hornets’ best of the night as they kept the pedal on the accelerator and put up 24 more points, while holding the Panthers to just 7. Prough added 4 more points, Tuttle scored 10, and Hunter Brown added four in the quarter to put the Hornets up 63-23. The Hornets closed out the night with 17 fourth-quarter points, with 9 coming from Joseph Grab.

Tuttle and Prough both had huge nights for the Hornets as both scored 20-plus points. Tuttle led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season. Prough finished with 25 points and had 7 boards. Holden Kennedy and Quinn Henry finished with 5 points each and Nic Ingerick and Collin Pietropola added 2 points.

Henry added 7 assists, Grab had 3 assists and 3 steals, junior Tanner Button had 3 steals and 3 rebounds, and Pietropola added 6 rebounds.

“We just got to come and play the way we’re supposed to play and I thought we did that tonight,” said head coach Todd Outman. “I wasn’t sure how they would respond with being off for so long. They’ve worked hard in practice and sometimes you can come out flat when you have good intensity in practice and that’s what we’ve had, but tonight they came out and played and I thought the big difference in tonight’s game in all honesty was I thought we got great minutes and great scoring from our bench. I thought they did a fantastic job tonight.”

Next up for the Hornets is another meeting with rival North Penn-Mansfield in the Showdown finals. The game will take place at Mansfield University’s Decker Gym following the Lady Hornets’ championship game with Athens at 7:30 p.m.

View the complete box score, powered by Circle W Sports.

North Penn-Mansfield 56, Wyalusing 42

The North Penn-Mansfield Tigers punched their ticket back to the NTL Showdown title game by fending off Wyalusing, 56-42 on the road on Thursday, February 15.

Both teams were fairly even throughout the first quarter with the Tigers edging the Rams 13-12 after the first eight minute. Once the second started the Tigers began to pull away slightly. Helped mainly by the outside game, Brent Burleigh and Jacob Green combined to hit four three-pointers in the quarter, with Burleigh draining three of them, for a 15-8 run to lead 28-20 at the half.

Wyalusing made a run once the third started and cut into the Tigers’ lead, thanks to 7 points from Will Martin, but the Tigers battled back to lead 41-35 heading into the final frame. This time, the Tigers held the Rams to just 7 points in the quarter while putting up 15 to go on for the hard-fought road win.

“Wyalusing is a scary team and they have so many weapons,” said Tigers’ head coach Kipper Burleigh. “We knew we would have our hands full. Defense was pretty good, maybe a little better in the first half. We gave up some open shots and some layups we shouldn’t have, but the effort was there. The kids played hard.”

Nick Kasper and Garrett David each finished with 13 points to lead the Tigers, and Burleigh added 12.

The win improves the Tigers’ record to 15-8 and sets up a rematch with rival Wellsboro in the NTL Showdown final on Saturday, February 17.