F-F Highlights: F-M girls rally past No. Bedford

It was not a good start for the Fannett-Metal girls basketball team, which fell behind Northern Bedford 12-5 after one quarter.

But Taylor Coffman helped the Tigers recover in the second quarter, outscoring the Panthers 22-12, and F-M went on to claim a 61-54 victory in a Sideling Hill/Inter-County Conference game Monday night.

Coffman scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half to keep Fannett-Metal (6-3, 3-3 SHL, 2-3 ICC) afloat. The Tigers then held onto the lead and closed NBC out in the fourth period.

It was first win for F-M over Northern Bedford since the 2008-09 season.

“This was definitely a big win for us,” Tigers coach Todd Best said. “We have talked about trying to get into the top tier in the league and this was the kind of win we needed.”

Coffman got plenty of help - Ally Hoffmann scored 13 points and Morgan Ritchey and Katie Johns each had 10. Johns hauled down 14 rebounds, Hoffmann had seven assists and Makayla O'Donel had four steals.

Best said, "NBC is a 3-point shooting machine, so we needed to make our defensive rotations quicker, and the girls did that. The big girls battled hard and we limited their second-chance opportunities, too."

The Tigers were 8-for-10 at the foul line.

"Hoffmann did a good job being our floor general toward the end," Best said. "We had a few turnovers, but then we either played good defense or caused a turnover, so they didn't hurt us."

Milestone win

Mercersburg Academy girls coach Paul Sipes is in his first year of coaching the Blue Storm, but it's certainly not his first year of coaching.

The Blue Storm handed Musselman, W.Va. a 50-44 loss Monday and it represented the 400th victory for Sipes. He came to Mercersburg after spending 11 years at Wakefield School in Virginia, where he led his team to the state final twice.

Top performers

Boys basketball

• Logan Grubb, Forbes Road. Grubb made up for the absence of leading scorer Aaron Schepis for the Cardinals by scoring a career-high 16 points in a win over Belleville Mennonite.
• Daniel Ogoro, Mercersburg Academy. The Blue Storm returned from break and dropped a close one to Kiski, 57-54, as Ogoro scored 21 points, including 8 of 9 from the foul line.
• Chance Hawbaker and Chase Novak, McConnellsburg. Both Spartans put up 18 points, as McConnellsburg dominated Hyndman, 74-47. Hawbakre also had 8 rebounds, while Novak had 5 assists. Ethan Barclay scored 16 points and 8 boards, and Dominick Reed had 13 points. 

Girls basketball

• Brooke Emge, Shalom Christian. Emge scored 18 points in the Flames' 47-43 loss to South Hagerstown. Shalom led by one point entering the final quarter.
• Olivia Coleman, Mercersburg Academy. The Blue Storm rallied - scoring 11 of the final 13 points - to defeat Musselman 50-44, as Coleman scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter.

SCORES

Boys Basketball

Forbes Road (6-4) 60, Belleville Mennonite 28
Kiski School 57, Mercersburg Academy (2-8) 54

Girls Basketball

Spring Grove 59, Waynesboro (7-3) 40 
Fannett-Metal (6-3, 3-3 SHL, 2-3 ICC) 61, Northern Bedford 54 
Everett 66, Southern Fulton (6-4, 4-2 SHL/3-2 ICC) 53 
Chestnut Ridge 71, Forbes Road (1-9, 0-7 SHL) 35
South Hagerstown 47, Shalom Christian (7-4) 43
Mercersburg Academy (2-7) 50, Musselman, W.Va. 44