Lady Raiders’ experience the difference in 61-14 victory
ALVERTON — The difference in Uniontown’s 61-14 Section 3-AAA girls’ basketball win at Southmoreland on Monday was the Lady Raiders’ experience against the Lady Scotties’ inexperience.
Uniontown (7-2, 3-1) was in control the entire game after scoring the game’s first 10 points on a pair of baskets by Danasha Harris and two 3-point baskets by Alyssa Machesky.
Freshman Julea Claycomb’s free throw accounted for the only Southmoreland point of the quarter. Claycomb also provided three of the Lady Scotties’ five points in the second quarter, while Lydya Dennis scored four of Uniontown’s eight points as the Lady Raiders took a 30-6 halftime lead.
Jessy Madison and Dennis each scored six points in a 16-0 run to start the second half as Uniontown surged to a 50-8 lead after 24 minutes.
Uniontown finished with an 11-6 edge in the fourth quarter with Madison scoring four more points to lead the way.
Southmoreland closed the game with its best run on baskets by Hannah Porter and Claycomb, and a free throw by Brooke Cottom.
Dennis scored 14 points to lead Uniontown with Madison and Harris adding 12, and Machesky scoring 11.
Claycomb scored six points for Southmoreland (1-11, 0-5) and Porter was next with four points.
In his second stint as head coach at Southmoreland, Brian Pritts is rebuilding a program that has struggled in recent years. Pritts said the Lady Raiders “run the floor really well. A Jason Winfrey coached team is a well-coached team. They get after you.
“We got some looks in the first half but couldn’t finish but that will come with time. I was a little disappointed in our effort in the third quarter, but not early on. You can’t get lazy or down on yourselves. We’re going through growing pains. Tomorrow will come and we’ll get ready for Wednesday’s game at Highlands.”
Winfrey was glad his team didn’t look past Southmoreland to Thursday’s home game against Mount Pleasant.
“We wanted to come out and get a sense of playing good basketball and it carried over in tonight’s game. We wanted to come in and be who we are, excelling on offense, running the fast break, defense, and play hard. I have a lot of respect for coach Pritts; he’s a good coach.”
As for Mount Pleasant, Winfrey said, “I’m always ready to coach against coach Scott (Giacobbi). We’ve got to play well against Mount Pleasant.”