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Of note: Tussey Mountain opened the first quarter on a 10-2 run and began the second quarter with an 11-2 spurt ... The Indians closed the deficit to 7 points in the third quarter ... Rachel Zimmerman scored 15 points for the Titans ... Lacey Beatty had 7 for the Indians.
Records: Tussey Mountain (21-3) plays Shade, which beat Berlin 40-38 in overtime, in the District 5 Class A final at Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday, 6:30 ... The Indians (16-8) face Berlin in a consolation game Thursday, at Bedford, 7.
EVERETT -- This time, Southern Fulton didn't have a magic second-half potion.
For the second consecutive girls basketball playoff game, a slow start placed the Indians into a deep hole, but on Tuesday night, Tussey Mountain wouldn't let Southern Fulton escape.
The Titans earned a 40-26 District 5 Class A semifinal victory at Everett and will now face Shade in Saturday's district title game. Southern Fulton will tackle Berlin at Bedford in a consolation game Thursday, with the winner qualifying for states.
"I told them before the game, the first two minutes are the most important," Southern Fulton coach Mark Mellott said. "We just couldn't get anything going offensively. Really, all things considering, at halftime I thought we were in pretty good shape."
The Indians fell behind Northern Bedford 18-7 after the first quarter of the district opener and was behind 29-18 at halftime.
It was much of the
But instead of outscoring the Titans 36-23 in the second half like the Indians did against the Panthers, they couldn't mount a major comeback.
Tussey Mountain jumped out of the gate on a 10-2 run. Rachel Zimmerman banked in a 3-pointer to give the Titans a 5-0 lead and Krista Swope punctuated the run with a 3-point play, which forced a Southern Fulton timeout.
The Titans opened the second quarter just as well. Swope scored eight of the team's points in an 11-2 run, which placed Tussey Mountain in firm control with a 23-7 lead midway through the quarter.
Meanwhile, Tussey's defense locked down the Indians. Southern Fulton had one field goal until 58 seconds remained in the first quarter. Through the first 3:51 of the second quarter, SF was held to two points.
"Our defense is how we've won games all year," Tussey Mountain coach Todd Gates said. "We played very well. That's what makes games like this so difficult. We've seen each other three times. We know what they like to do and they know what we like to do. So it can be a struggle to score points. We anticipated they'd do some different things offensively to give us some new looks. We played well."
Still, Tussey Mountain left an opening in the second half. The Titans scored two points -- a bucket by Zimmerman -- in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
In that span, SF's Jenna Hollenshead scored a bucket inside and knocked down a pair of free throws, but the Indians were unable to significantly cut into the deficit.
"We had four or five possessions there where we could've really cut into their lead," Mellott said. "We may have even been able to take the lead. We couldn't make the shots. We just didn't play our best game tonight.
"We definitely had opportunities; we didn't take advantage."
The Indians didn't help themselves at the foul line. Southern Fulton shot 2-for-6 in the first half and 4-for-10 in the second half at the line.
Zimmerman canned 7 of 8 from the line in the fourth quarter to help the Titans close it out.
Now, Southern Fulton has to regroup for the Berlin matchup.
"I just told them we didn't play our best and that's what beat us," Mellott said. "We beat ourselves as much as Tussey beat us."
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Brian Hall may be reached at 262-4788 or bkhall@publicopinionnews.com.
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Tussey Mountain 40
Southern Fulton 26
SOUTHERN FULTON
Amy Bard 1 1-4 3, Lacey Beatty 3 1-6 7, Chelsie Eader 2 0-0 4, Morgan Mills 1 0-0 2, Jenna Hollenshead 1 4-6 6, Bailey Elbin 0 0-0 0, Taylor Leasure 0 0-0 0, Kayla Chilcote 0 0-0 0, Taelor Morton 2 0-0 4, Abby Hawkins 0 0-0 0, Kayla Wertz 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 6-16 28.
TUSSEY MOUNTAIN
Amanda Mack 0 0-0 0, Abbie Runk 0 0-0 0, Morgan Lemin 2 1-5 5, Rachel Zimmerman 3 7-9 15, Kristen Swope 4 3-6 13, Caitlin Foster 1 1-2 3, Katie Runk 1 0-0 2, Jordan Kaminsky 1 0-1 2. Totals 12 12-23 40.
Southern Fulton 5 9 4 8 -- 26
Tussey Mountain 12 11 7 10 -- 40
3-point shots -- TM 3 (Zimmerman 2, Swope). Shooting -- SF 10-40 (25%). Rebounds -- SF 23 (Eader 7). Assists -- SF 5 (Eader, Beatty 2). Steals -- SF 3 (Eader 2). Turnovers -- SF 13. Blocked shots -- SF 4 (Bard 2). Fouled out -- Hollenshead.
