SUNDAY, Jan.29, 2023
ALTOONA-MIDWAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
PLEASANTON – One might have to excuse the Altoona-Midway High School teams if they believe the name of this community should be changed to “Not-so-Pleasanton” … at least as far as basketball is concerned.
The Pleasanton Blu-Jays invited AMHS to town Friday night, and proceeded to claim a pair of lopsided Three Rivers League triumphs.
Pleasanton captured a 79-47 victory in the boys’ contest, while the Lady Blu-Jays were 54-19 winners in the girls’ matchup.
Both Jet squads face a heavy slate of action with three home games this week. Altoona-Midway will host St. Paul on Tuesday, followed by matchups with Uniontown on Thursday and Northeast on Friday. Games will begin at 5 p.m. each night.
AMHS Boys
A high school basketball team cannot give up 55 points over two quarters, including 34 in a single period, and expect to stay in the game.
That was the story for Altoona-Midway (6-6). Trailing just 19-16 after one quarter, the Jets allowed 34 points in the second quarter and 21 in the third. Pleasanton’s lead ballooned to 53-33 at halftime and 74-40 after three periods before winning 79-47.
“The game was pretty even early in the second period when Pleasanton went on a run. We got knocked down and could not get back up,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance.
“Our big men got in foul trouble and the Blu-Jays pounded the boards for put-back after put-back,” Vance said, noting that Tony Gillespie and Dale Gillespie scored 28 and 22 points respectively. “Those two combined for 50 total points. We did not find a way to shut them down.”
“We were plagued by foul trouble throughout the game and never really got into a rhythm after the foul issues set in,” Vance added. “But Pleasanton is a very good team, and we have three more challenging games this coming week. Hopefully we will be ready.”
Kieran Foster led the Jets with 16 points while Jacob Meigs chipped in 10. AMHS also got six points apiece from William Stackhouse and Andy Tiger, five from Harley Lopeman, and two each from Blaine Collins and Kage Beck.
Stackhouse pulled down eight rebounds, Tiger had six, Meigs five and Brandon Johnson collected four for AMHS.
AMHS Girls
Pleasanton raced to a 21-3 lead after the opening eight minutes and built a commanding 38-5 advantage at halftime. The Lady Blu-Jays were up 51-12 after three quarters and won 54-19.
“I have to give all the credit to Pleasanton, they are a good, experienced team,” noted Altoona-Midway head coach Jessica Porter. “All of their starters were juniors and seniors, and they were tall. They could shoot outside and also dump it down low, where they could just shoot over us all night.
“But, to my girls’ credit, they never gave up. They tried the best they could,” Porter said. “I told them that we will learn from this and we look forward to playing Tuesday.”
AMHS (3-9) benefitted from a nice offensive performance from Summer Raymond, who finished with 12 points, including connecting on a trio of three-pointers. Chantal Morales chipped in four points, while Ava Hufford finished with two and Emmalynn Pupanek added one.
Hufford also added three steals on the evening while Raymond and Pupanek garnered three rebounds each.
Pleasanton placed three players in double figures. Leah Myrick led the Blu-Jays with 15 points, Kara Umphenour tossed in 14, and Eryn Sabine netted 11.