Mirror photo by Michael Boytim AAHS girls coach Chris Fleegle diagrams a play for his Lady Lions in the first half.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

STATE COLLEGE — The Altoona Area High School girls basketball program has a long and storied history that includes four state championships and 28 District 6 titles.

So, it was only appropriate that the program’s 1,000th victory came against the team the Lady Lions defeated for many of those titles, State College.

Altoona played possibly its most complete game of the season and avenged a three-point loss from December with a 66-37 win over the Lady Little Lions Tuesday in the North Gymnasium.

“There’s a lot of people behind the scenes who have had a lot of success in our program,” Altoona coach Chris Fleegle said. “We’re just lucky as a coaching staff and players to be part of such a special program.”

Senior Lanie Wilt has been part of plenty of victories over the past four years and contributed heavily to Tuesday’s win with a game-high 21 points and five 3-pointers.

“I’m grateful for the culture that has been created at Altoona,” Wilt said. “I think it really sets all of our girls up for success. It teaches us how to not only be good basketball players but good people with all the things we do off the court as well. I think that goes back to all the coaches that have instilled that into all the teams we have had in the past.”

Wilt snapped out of a shooting slump with her performance.

“It’s a credit to her character,” Fleegle said. “At the beginning of the year, she struggled putting the ball in the basket from the outside. We preached to her and she understood that she was defending well, facilitating the ball and getting us into our offense. She’s a skillful player. It was just a matter of time when (the shooting) would come. Typically, when we have bigger games, she shows up.”

Zaelihn Nguyen-Moore scored eight of Altoona’s 20 first-quarter points and set the tone by getting to the basket with both her left and right hand.

With State College collapsing down on a driving Moore, it opened things up outside.

The game was tight for the first half of the first quarter until Altoona went on a 25-7 run to up its lead to 32-13 on Melana Eyer’s 3-pointer late in the second quarter. It was one of 13 3-pointers the Lady Lions made on the night.

“We played well,” Fleegle said. “When we’re sharing the basketball and running the floor and hitting shots, we’re a tough team to beat. This game and two quarters against Hollidaysburg we have played very high-end basketball.”

Freshman Brionna Hudson’s stellar play also stood out.

Hudson finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds while going 3-for-3 at the foul line, hitting a 3-pointer and showcasing some impressive moves in the post.

“She’s going to go down as an all-time great,” Fleegle said. “Because she’s humble. She works hard. There’s zero attitude with her. She comes to work every day. You can’t tell if she has 25 points or she has two points and four fouls. Her look is always the same. Her demeanor is always the same. Nowadays, that’s hard to come by when you are a special athlete.”

State College, which got a team-high nine points from Sienna Wilson, had won the previous meeting between the teams on Dec. 11 at the AAHS Fieldhouse, 43-40.

“My team is all sick right now,” State College coach Alli Mock said. “We had three kids out in practice all week, so we didn’t have our full practice squad. Not that should be an excuse, but when you’re not at 100 percent across the board, it’s hard. We didn’t have any consistency at practice all week.”

Altoona improved to 12-2 overall and moved ahead of State College in the Mid Penn Conference Commonwealth Division standings.

“We were super determined to get this one,” Wilt said. “We are all confident that we are the better team, and when we play as well as we did today, we can go up against anyone in the state.”

If Wilt and the rest of the Lady Lions shoot like they did Tuesday, they might get a chance to prove that in March.

“I have been practicing my shot a lot,” Wilt said. “It’s nice to see it finally pay off. I’m grateful that my teammates were looking to get me the ball, and I think us working together is what helped us win.”

State College fell to 11-3 overall but have been steadily improving in each of the last three seasons.

“We have been buying into each other and realizing that all their strengths coming together have been fueling a successful season,” Mock said. “We have been stressing all year that our defense can fuel our offense. They know we are a good defensive team and have good defensive structure right now, and that’s what is pushing them through.”

ALTOONA (66): M. Eyer 4 0-0 11, Nguyen-Moore 4 0-1 8, Hudson 5 3-3 14, Wilt 8 0-0 21, Harpster 2 0-0 6, R. Eyer 2 0-0 6, Cogan 0 0-0 0, Cuspert 0 0-0 0, Lantzy 0 0-0 0, Stadtmiller 0 0-0 0, Beltz 0 0-0 0. Totals — 25 3-4 66.

STATE COLLEGE (37): Hawbaker 2 0-2 4, Whitehurst 2 1-2 6, Sh. Wilson 1 0-0 3, Si. Wilson 3 2-2 9, Risha 0 0-2 0, Mobley 2 1-2 5, Tate 3 0-0 6, Roan 2 0-0 4, Irmak 0 0-0 0. Totals — 15 4-10 37.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 20 19 15 12 — 66

State College 11 11 6 9 — 37

3-point goals: Altoona 13 (Wilt 5, M. Eyer 3, Harpster 2, R. Eyer 2, Hudson); State College 3 (Whitehurst, Si. Wilson, Sh. Wilson).

Records: Altoona (12-2); State College (11-3).

Officials: Tyler Fink, Mark Dwyer, Scott Campbell.

JV: Altoona, 34-23. High scorers–Ryann Lantzy, A, 9; Elizabeth Houser, SC, 8.