Trojan girls drop lead in final minute to Carlisle

CHAMBERSBURG - It took nearly 28 minutes for the Chambersburg girls basketball team to gain control Friday against Carlisle.

And it took less than a minute to lose it all.

The Lady Trojans looked at the clock with less than four minutes to go while holding a 50-42 lead, and could see their first Mid Penn Commonwealth Division win of the season in reach.

But that was their downfall, according to coach Barry Purvis.

Chambersburg let that eight-point lead slip away in the final minutes of the game, ultimately falling to Carlisle, 53-52.

"Our girls just aren't used to winning," Purvis said. "They panicked, and when you panic you make mistakes. We had a lead about two and a half minutes to go and we threw the ball away three straight times."

Chambersburg started the second half doing all the right things. The Trojans shut down Sydney Purcell, the Thundering Herd's leading scorer in the first half, and got the ball inside, but turnovers and clumsy mistakes outlasted their improved play.

"We should have taken care of the ball better," Purvis said. "We made some bad mistakes coming down the stretch and it cost us."

"We wanted to prove to the other teams that we are a competitive team, and that we don't give up. That we are looking to compete," Chambersburg's Liz Egolf said. "We had it, but I just feel like we gave up because we thought we had it in the bag."

After taking its largest lead of the night at 58-50, Chambersburg (1-10, 0-7 MPC) allowed Carlisle (3-9, 1-6 MPC) to score six straight before a foul on the Herd's Kelsey Miller brought her to the free throw line. Miller made both shots to tie the game at 50.

On Chambersburg's next possession, an initial shot by Taylor Vrabel bounced off the rim and into the hands of Lindsay Embly, who tipped in a layup to to give the Trojans a 52-50 narrow lead with a minute left.

Carlisle's Kassidy Ingram moved through the paint to make a shot, and was fouled by Embly- her fifth of the night. Ingram made the free throw to give the Herd the lead they needed to claim the first win in their last seven meetings with Chambersburg.

"We just needed to focus, relax and play our game," Ingram said. "We've been working hard and we deserve this W. I just relaxed, bent my knees and shot my foul shot just like practice."

"I think foul shots are huge. We missed quite a few tonight, but we hit the right ones when they counted and that was really important," Carlisle coach Gabrielle Guynan said. "It's a confidence builder. We hit a lot of big shots at the end and we really needed that."

Ingram finished with 18 points for Carlisle, followed by Purcell, who scored 16 points, all in the first half.

Embly led with a double-double for Chambersburg with 24 points, a season high, and 12 rebounds. Vrabel also earned a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Carlisle 53, Chambersburg 52

Carlisle (53)

Kelsey Miller 2 2-2 7, Marlise Newson 1 2-3 4, Cara Eschenmann 2 1-2 6, Sydney Purcell 6 2-4 16, Kassidy Ingram 7 4-7 18, Tyra Brown 1 0-0 2. Totals — 19 11-18 53.

Chambersburg (52)

Shayla Corwell 1 4-6 7, Kristen Pugh 0 2-2 2, Shadai Joyner 2 1-2 5, Lindsay Embly 10 4-5 24, Taylor Vrabel 3 4-6 10, Camryn Greenlee 0 0-0 0, Madison Whitfield 1 1-2 4. Totals — 17 16-23 52.

Carlisle _ 18 _ 8 _ 13 _ 14 _ — _ 53

Chambersburg _ 13 _ 9 _ 16 _ 14 _ — _ 52

3-point goals — Car 4 (Purcell 2, Eschenmann, Miller), Chbg 2 (Corwell, Whitfield).

JV score — Chambersburg 37, Carlisle 27. Ashley Adams led the Trojans with 17 points and Gabby Lecuona had 9.