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Big second half helps Girard pull away from Hubbard
By Jim Flick
GIRARD
After playing a quiet first half that ended nearly dead even with Hubbard, the Girard High girls basketball team burst of the locker room Thursday night and clipped the Eagles’ wings in the second half for a 56-32 victory.
The Indians (2-3) led 19-16 at halftime, but outscored Hubbard (1-3) 37-16 in the second half.
Sophomore Bree Bishop led the Indians’ second-half assault, sinking a 3-point shot to open the third quarter and scoring the first nine points of the third quarter. Bishop’s scoring spree in the opening minutes of the third stanza gave Girard a 28-16 lead.
Girard outscored Hubbard 21-7 in the third quarter, and held a 40-23 lead after three stanzas. The Indians continued their assault in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Eagles 16-9.
By the end of the game, Bishop had scored 17 points and was the game’s leading scorer.
Miranda Boyle and Lindsay Durkin, both juniors, each scored 12 points for Girard. Hayley Spalla, a junior, contributed seven points, while sophomore Holly Clark added four points for the Indians
Emily Manion, a freshman, came off the bench to score 10 points and lead Hubbard, while junior Julia Clemente added seven points.
“In the first half, we weren’t really running out offense,” said Girard coach Andy Saxon. “In the second half, we moved the ball around and got the ball inside. We scored a lot of inside buckets in the second half.”
Bishop “is one of our best players,” Saxon said. “She doesn’t start. We always bring her off the bench because she’s a sophomore.”
Bishop “was a silent killer. We didn’t have anyone to stop her,” said Hubbard coach Kacie Mosora. She said her team was defensively keying on Boyle and Durkin.
“It was a tough game,” admitted the Hubbard coach. “In the second half, things kinda got out of hand.
“We gave up. Our heart was not there tonight.”
After halftime, Mosora added, “We came out flat.”
After Durkin scored the game’s first point on a free throw, Clemente sank a 3-pointer and junior Justine Goldner tossed in a field goal to give Hubbard a 5-1 lead.
But Girard pulled even on a basket by Boyle and took the lead, 7-5, when Durkin tossed in a field goal. Hubbard tied the score when Manion sank a field goal, but that was the Eagles’ last lead of the night.
Boyle scored, then Spalla stole the ball and dribbled the length of the court for a layup that gave Girard an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Eagles outscored the Indians 9-8 in the second quarter to keep it close at halftime.
But then came the third-quarter assault led by Bishop.
Girard also dominated the boards all night, outrebounding Hubbard and scoring many of its points on second shots. Bishop, Boyle, and Durkin all played tough games in the paint Thursday night.