Mar 10, 2025
Makenna Weimert leaps for a save along the baseline.
By Ron Musselman
For the Mirror
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Hollidaysburg’s Jillian Sidney played a few minutes Saturday and only had a few looks at the basket.
Even so, the junior guard still hit the biggest shot of the game.
Sidney’s lone basket, a 3-pointer from the right top of the key, gave the Lady Tigers the lead for good with 3:52 remaining.
“Her shot was huge,” Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said.
Sidney’s trey came during a 12-0 run that helped Hollidaysburg erase a four-point fourth-quarter deficit en route to a 43-34 first-round PIAA Class 5A playoff victory over Indiana.
“That was a really good shot (by Jillian),” senior guard Bella Vent said. “It put us ahead and gave us some confidence.”
Sidney, whose mother, Tricia Greaser, was a standout player for Hollidaysburg in the late 1980s and a four-year letterwinner at Pitt-Johnstown, was happy to contribute to the Lady Tigers’ win following a 15-day layoff that led to some lethargic play in the first half.
“I just knew that going in I had to make my minutes count and I just knew we needed a spark to get us back into our rhythm,” Sidney said. “I have had a lot of practice with those kinds of shots. We shoot them a lot.”
The game featured 11 lead changes and seven ties.
Hollidaysburg, the District 6 champion, hit just two of 12 shots in the opening quarter — a pair of 3s by senior guard Lauren Stevenson — and led 6-3 after eight minutes.
“Having a two-week layoff from districts to this, we knew we were going to be in for a dogfight,” Jubeck said. “These guys played last week to get into this game. You got to do a little bit of magic for two weeks to keep your team ready.”
Vent, an IUP recruit, scored seven of her game-high 16 points in the second quarter, giving the Lady Tigers a 17-16 lead at the half.
“They weren’t all falling for me, but they fell at the right time,” she said.
Junior guard Laken Kugler had nine of her team-high 13 points in the third quarter, when the Little Indians (19-8) outscored the Lady Tigers 12-8 to take a 28-25 lead.
However, Hollidaysburg put the game away in the fourth quarter with an 18-6 scoring edge. Stevenson contributed 12 points for the Lady Tigers, including three 3-pointers.
“Lauren did a good job,” Jubeck said. “She played 32 minutes. She controlled the pace of the game. She bailed us out a couple of times by making some big-time 3s.
“Having (junior forward) Alana Lightner come in, she played tremendously. She scored some points and got some pretty big rebounds for us.”
Senior forward Emily Betsinger added 10 points for Indiana, the seventh-place team from District and 7 a former member of District 6.
The Lady Tigers, 102-11 since Feb. 25, 2021, will play District 3 champion York Suburban (24-2) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the second round of the playoffs at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown.
Hollidaysburg hasn’t won a second-round game since 1994.
“It would be great to win this one this year,” Vent said.
INDIANA (34): Kugler 5 3-4 13, Hutton 0 4-5 4, J. Antonacci 3 0-0 7, Betsinger 5 0-0 10, Ferraro 0 0-0 0, Allison 0 0-0 0, Stossel 0 0-2 0. Totals – 13 7-11 43.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (43): Stevenson 3 3-4 12, Vent 6 2-4 16, Padamonsky 1 1-2 3, Weimert 0 0-0 0, Heim 1 2-2 4, Sidney 1 0-0 3, Lightner 2 1-3 5, Steiner 0 0-0 0. Totals – 14 9-15 43.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Indiana 3 13 12 6 — 34
Hollidaysburg 6 11 8 18 — 43
3-point goals: Indiana 1 (Antonacci); Hollidaysburg 6 (Stevenson 3, Vent 2, Sidney).
Records: Indiana (19-8); Hollidaysburg (24-3).
Officials: Derrick Soellner, Bill Musser, Jay Detwiler.
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