Leopards hold off Warriors

By JEREMY SELLEW

jsellew@yourmvi.com

Three players hit double figures and a young Belle Vernon Area girls team fended off pesky Elizabeth Forward in Section 3-4A Monday night.

The Warriors got to within a basket of the Leopards on eight separate occasions but were unable to take the lead as Belle Vernon held on for a 55-50 decision to earn its first section win of the season.

“I thought we played really well throughout the entire game,” BVA head coach Kaitlyn Slagus said. “In the final minutes, I thought Taylor (Rodriguez) did a good job of protecting the ball and knocking down free throws to hold them off.”

Rodriguez scored nine of her 10 points in the final quarter, including five in a span of 48 seconds after EF’s Bailie Brinson cut the Leopards’ lead to 48-46 with 1:25 remaining.

“Our effort was there. We kept coming back over and over,” EF head coach Krystal Gibbs said. “We just couldn’t take the lead. I think if we take the lead, maybe even once, it’s a different game.”

Belle Vernon (2-2, 1-1) jumped out to 15-8 lead after the first quarter, but the Warriors found some momentum early in the second as Haven Briggs hit a 3-pointer and Anna Resnik scored off her own putback to cut the lead to 15-13.

BVA countered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Tessa Rodriguez and Presleigh Colditz to shoot the lead back to eight with 4:47 to go before the half.

“Early on we were a little hesitant shooting the ball, and I think maybe we rushed too many threes,” Slagus said. “But it seemed like we were more confident in the second quarter. We want them to shoot the ball because we have some great shooters, I just think we didn’t wait for the best possible shot early.”

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