Montrose rallies past Forest City

Montrose coach Al Smith joins in the celebration after his team defeated Forest City. TIMES-SHAMROCK PHOTO/BUTCH COMEGYS

BY MARTY MYERS

Times-Shamrock Writer

Freshman Myra Lattimore hasn’t been called on much in Montrose’s first nine games. But with Thursday’s game on the line, Lattimore got the call and responded like a veteran.

Her one big play after another helped third-ranked and unbeaten Montrose rally for a 39-37 win over Forest City in their Lackawanna League Division III showdown of 4-0 teams.

“Myra stepped it up big time,” said Montrose junior Dallas Ely, who led the

Forest City’s Carly Erdmann attempts to pass the ball while off balance and defended by Montrose’s Amelia DiPhillips on Thursday night. TIMES-SHAMROCK PHOTO/BUTCH COMEGYS

winners with 15 points and 12 rebounds. “I couldn’t ask for more from her. She doesn’t get much varsity time and she comes up and plays tremendous. Rebounding, giving us shots, she did it.

“I knew one of these times it was her time to step up and tonight she made the most of it.”

Lattimore hit two free throws, a 17-footer and scored on a drive, all part of a 16-2 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters. But that wasn’t her biggest contribution. She also tied up Forest City’s Katie Yale on a missed free throw to allow Montrose to keep possession leading by one with 20 seconds left.

Sara Krupinski hit the front end of a one-and-one and Katelyn Spellman did a good job contesting Yale’s 10-footer with two seconds left and controlling the rebound to seal the win.

“Our girls were resilient tonight,” Montrose coach Al Smith said. “We got down but we didn’t run away and hide and we stayed with it.”

Montrose's Katelyn Spellman attempts a shot while fouled by Forest City's Kiersten Collins on Thursday. TIMES-SHAMROCK PHOTO/BUTCH COMEGYS

Forest City hit half its 22 shots in the first half to take a 25-21 lead at the break, and stretched it to 30-22 on Kiersten Collins’ putback with 5:22 left in the third. But the Lady Foresters would get just one basket over the next 11 minutes as Montrose seized control.

“I thought we did a decent job on Ely,” Forest City coach Carl Urbas said. “I thought if we could keep her at 15 to 18 points we could win the ballgame, but offensively, we just didn’t get it done. I don’t know what the shot (chart) will look like, but I think we had open shots in the second half.

“I don’t know how many 3-point attempts we had but nothing dropped. We made penetration a couple times and missed some layups and probably our foul shooting wasn’t the best. But we went flat. We run into these lulls like this and then, boom, they get some momentum.”

Krupinski did more damage at the top of a 1-3-1 zone defense that seemed to take Forest City out of its offensive rhythm – the Lady Foresters made just 5 of 21 shots in the second half – and then she scored on a third putback try that triggered the run as Montrose went ahead, 38-32, with 2:29 to play.

“We knew coming out (of halftime) that we had to step it up,” Ely said. “We weren’t playing our best defense. We had to rebound and step it up and we did our job in the second half.”

Cassie Erdmann led Forest City with 15 points, including her left-handed drive with 6:40 left in the game that was the only dent in Montrose’s run.

“When we switched up defensively, I thought it caught them off guard,” Smith said. “Sara did a real nice job on the point in the 1-3-1.”

Yale finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Foresters, and Collins blocked five shots, four in the opening quarter.

Elk Lake 

Elk Lake’s Kenzi Moon defends against Lackawanna Trail’s Alexa Rzucidlo during the Warriors’ 40-39 victory over the Lions in Dimock on Thursday evening. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRIS MORAHAN

Elk Lake’s girls’ basketball team faced a 53-42 loss at home against Wyalusing on Saturday after it picked up a 40-39 victory over Lackawanna Trail at home on Thursday night.

On Saturday, Elk Lake outscored Wyalusing 13-12 in the first quarter and each team scored nine in the second to give the Warriors a 22-21 lead at halftime.

However, after the half, Wyalusing outscored the Warriors 14-8 in the third and 18-12 in the fourth to take the win.

Elk Lake was led by Meghan Bush with 10 points while Kenzie Moon and Katie Mitchell each chipped in eight.

Against Trail, the first quarter saw the Warriors take a 7-6 lead over Trail and after outscoring the Lions 10-8 in the second held a 17-14 lead at halftime.

After the break, Trail fought back with a 15-9 run in the third to take a 29-26 advantage going into the fourth where Elk Lake outscored the Lions 14-10 to hold onto the win.

Moon hit a driving layup and Mitchell knocked down two free throws with eight seconds to secure the win.

The Warriors were led by Bush who finished with 16 while Moon added 10 and Mitchell chipped in six.

Trail’s Natasha Pacholec hit a long shot at the buzzer, but it was just inside the 3-point line. She led Trail with 15 points.

Lion Alexa Rzucidlo had seven points, as did Clarissa Eggleston.

Mountain View

Mountain View’s girls’ basketball team picked up a 53-18 victory over Blue Ridge at a home game on Thursday night.

The Eagles paced Blue Ridge 15-4 in the first quarter and 11-5 in the second to hold a 26-9 lead at halftime.

After the half, The Eagles continued to dominate as they went 15-2 over Blue Ridge in the third and 12-7 over the Raiders in the fourth to cap off the victory.

Mountain View was led by Kayla Kazmierski with 15 points while Alex Lynn added 12.

The Raiders were led by Kristen Brown with six points while Ashley Warren and Jessica Jhingoor each added four.

Susquehanna

Susquehanna’s girls’ basketball team suffered a 68-10 loss from Lakeland at an away game on Thursday evening.

The Sabers were held to no points in the first quarter as Lakeland scored 27, and the Chiefs went on a 22-4 run in the second to lead 49-4 at halftime.

After the break, Lakeland topped the Sabers 8-2 in the third, before going on an 11-4 run to cap off the victory.

Susquehanna was led by Emily Carmody with four points.

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