Jan 21, 2025
01/20/25 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Bellwood-Antis’ Leigha Clapper drives by Central’s Adyson Poet.
By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
BELLWOOD — Leigha Clapper has played in a lot of big moments at Bellwood-Antis and was a part of the Lady Blue Devils’ run to the PIAA semifinals as a freshman.
With B-A on a three-game losing streak going into Monday’s matchup with Central, Clapper’s experience helped the Lady Devils snap the skid and come away with a 40-39 victory.
“We have been looking for someone to step in and become a leader and take control,” Clapper said. “We had a talk before the game, and I felt that we all needed to step up. As a senior, I wanted to be a leader and encourage everyone and help them be better.”
With her team trailing 14-9 and Lilly Gerwert out of the game with three fouls with 6:42 to play in the first half, Clapper scored seven points in an 11-3 run that put Bellwood-Antis ahead.
“Leigha has played a lot of basketball,” Bellwood-Antis coach Kyley Longo said. “She knew her team needed her to take control tonight, and I thought we did a good job finding her and making the extra pass and finding the open man. It allowed us to get into a flow and helped Leigha find her shot. Once her shots start falling, look out.”
Central fought back to tie the game before the half with the help of a 3-pointer by Addi Long and a putback by Addie Imes and led by one going into the fourth quarter.
But Clapper drilled a pair of long 3-pointers to account for six of Bellwood’s eight points in the final period that proved to be the difference.
“The message for us is that if we play with effort and play together, good things are going to happen for us,” Longo said. “Right now, we’re not looking that far down the road, just the next game ahead of us. We have BG on Thursday and Hollidaysburg on Monday. It’s one game at a time, and if we put the work in, the work will pay off.”
Despite missing major portions of the game due to foul trouble, Gerwert still finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but when she was out, her teammates filled that void.
“With her not on the floor, that’s a big challenge for us,” Clapper said. “For Addy Turek and Hannah Waite to step up and fill in with rebounding was a big help.”
Longo said her bench is always ready to contribute.
“It’s next man up,” Longo said. “We have kids that are prepared and ready to go. They know if someone goes down they are going in. We lost another kid (due to injury) late in the game and had other kids come in and pick up the slack. Our freshmen were able to handle the pressure of a close game, so this is a good lesson for us fighting for the lead and keeping the lead.”
For Central, it was another frustrating loss.
“It’s been the story of our year,” Lady Dragons coach Blake Over said. “They give 100 percent, and I don’t know what’s been going on, but we just find ways to lose at the end. The girls worked hard and did everything right, but we gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. We have to look at the things we didn’t do well and improve those.”
Central fell to 2-11. One of the previous losses was to Bellwood-Antis on Dec. 28, 52-42. The Lady Dragons came much closer to a win in this meeting.
“I want to see them continue to work hard,” Over said. “I think we’re way better than our record. The girls can’t give up and quit now. They have worked too hard.”
Long and Marah Dickson led Central with nine points each.
The Lady Dragons had the ball down by three with 15 seconds left. After a timeout and running through the offense, Dickson made a layup with about five seconds left.
“We were looking for a drive and kick,” Over said. “We kicked and it was covered, and she went to the basket. She hasn’t been in that situation a ton of times, so it’s something that she and the team will learn from. In a situation like that, you have to put up a 3-pointer.”
Over still had a timeout but didn’t call it following Dickson’s basket, and Bellwood-Antis did not inbound the ball as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“Yeah, probably could have done that (used the timeout),” Over said. “It’s still a learning process.”
CENTRAL (39): Boyles 1 3-7 5, Dickson 3 2-2 9, Benton 1 1-2 4, Poet 2 0-0 5, Imes 2 0-2 4, Long 2 3-4 9, James 1 0-0 3. Totals — 12 9-17 39.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (40): Clapper 4 2-2 13, Gerwert 4 3-4 11, Norton 1 2-4 5, Cacciotti 1 2-2 4, Sloey 0 2-2 2, Sweigert 1 0-0 3, Turek 1 0-2 2, Waite 0 0-0 0, Plummer 0 0-0 0. Totals — 12 11-16 40.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central 14 8 11 6 — 39
Bellwood-Antis 8 14 10 8 — 40
3-point goals: Central 5 (Long 2, Dickson, Benton, James); Bellwood-Antis 5 (Clapper 3, Norton, Sweigert).
Records: Central (2-11); Bellwood-Antis (8-7).
Officials: Bill Pfeffer, Kevin Laird, Jill Helsel.
JV: No game.
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