By ROB JONAS
SCOTIA – Harmony Philo referred to it as a “little run,” but there was nothing little about it.
Gloversville (8-5) scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to overcome an early deficit on its way to a 48-39 victory over Scotia-Glenville (11-2) Thursday, Jan. 18 in a Foothills Council girls basketball game.
“We really needed that momentum,” said Philo, who led all scorers with 21 points. “That little run, everybody was working hard and making plays.”
Scotia-Glenville threatened to run away and hide from Gloversville. The Lady Tartans scored nine of the first 12 points of the game and built a 22-13 lead early in the second quarter.
Gloversville took control from there, thanks to its 3-2 zone defense. The Dragons denied entry passes to Mary Kate Palleschi and Rhaymi Porter at the top of the lane, forcing the Lady Tartans into several turnovers that led to points at the other end.
“That was our goal because they're very tall, so we wanted to force them into taking outside shots,” said Philo.
“We didn't adjust,” said Scotia-Glenville coach Megan Bowman. “We talked about not telegraphing our passes and bouncing the ball, and we didn't make the adjustments.”
Ironically, Philo wasn't the primary scorer during Gloversville's decisive 17-0 run, which gave the visitors a 30-23 halftime lead. Instead, she got the ball into Kendra Lavery's hands, and the junior forward responded by scoring 10 of her 15 points in that stretch. Kerri Hauser tacked on a turnaround jumper and a three-point play to cap the Dragons' spurt. Porter made one of two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to end Scotia-Glenville's scoreless streak.
“Over the last couple of weeks, they've really been laser-focused at finding each other,” Gloversville coach Molly D'Arcy said of Philo and Lavery.
Scotia-Glenville hung around for a while in the second half. Palleschi opened the scoring in the third quarter with a three-pointer to trim Gloversville's lead to 30-26, and the Lady Tartans forced the Dragons into several bad shots to slow down the scoring pace. Still, Gloversville's zone defense continued to discombobulate Scotia-Glenville's offense with turnover after turnover, and Philo and Lavery each made baskets to extend the Dragons' lead to 36-26.
Scotia-Glenville made another push in the fourth quarter. Mikyla Mitchell drained an open three-pointer, and Porter put back a missed shot to pull the Lady Tartans within five points. However, Mitchell fouled out with 4:08 left in the game, and Gloversville steadily pulled away for the nine-point victory.
“You can't hide the fact that Mikyla is our engine,” Bowman said of Mitchell, who committed her fourth personal foul in the third quarter and was limited to 10 points. “We could have sat her out at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but we took a chance and put her in.”
Palleschi netted a team-high 16 points for Scotia-Glenville, which edged Gloversville 41-39 in their first meeting Dec. 7 in Gloversville.
“Our girls are very excited, especially after losing to them earlier in the season,” said D'Arcy.
