FRIDAY, Feb. 3, 2023
ALTOONA-MIDWAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
BUFFALO – Altoona-Midway High School cagers dropped a pair of Three Rivers League contests against the Uniontown Eagles here Thursday night.
Uniontown notched a 43-27 victory in the boys’ contest, after the Lady Eagles were victorious 50-16 in the earlier varsity matchup.
The games were originally scheduled for Jan. 13 but were postponed, leaving the Jet squads with a busy week, despite having all of the action slated for Milo Peterson Gymasium.
AMHS closed out its three-games-in-four-days homestand on Friday by hosting Northeast High School of Arma.
Altoona-Midway wraps up a four-game homestand next Tuesday, Feb. 7, when Southern Coffey County provides the opposition. It will be Homecoming for AMHS.
AMHS Boys
Altoona-Midway (6-8) had trouble offensively as the Jets were missing two starters, William Stackhouse and Kieran Foster, who both missed the game due to illness. Uniontown parlayed that misfortune into a 43-27 win.
“Our two leading scorers were sidelined with illness, and our score reflects that,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “I have to say our defense was decent, and we only turned the ball 12 times unlike last game where we had 21. We just couldn’t score enough points.”
Uniontown turned just a 9-7 lead at the quarter into a 24-9 advantage at halftime. The Eagles led 30-22 entering the fourth stanza and outscored AMHS 13-5 over the final eight minutes.
“It was 9-9 early in the second quarter, and then we went ice cold while Uniontown scored the last 15 points of the quarter,” Vance noted. “We came out strong in the third quarter and got back within eight, but the fourth quarter we again had trouble hitting our shots.
“Eventually we were forced to foul to try for a comeback, and then the last couple of minutes I emptied the bench and made sure everyone got into the game.”
Andy Tiger and Jacob Meigs both reached double figures for the Jets, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Brandon Johnson added five points and Harley Lopeman scored one.
For the game, the Jets made just 1-of-17 three-point attempts and went 6-of-12 from the line.
Meigs, Lopeman and Blaine Collins each pulled down six rebounds for Altoona-Midway. Lopeman also had four steals while Meigs and Collins snatched three apiece.
“The boys played with tremendous heart and energy as the usually do,” Vance said. “We just came up a bit short. Now it’s on to tomorrow night for another challenging game against Northeast from Arma.”
AMHS Girls
AMHS (3-11) had trouble with a strong Uniontown squad and dropped a 50-16 decision Thursday night.
The Lady Eagles led 13-2 after one period and 29-10 at halftime. Uniontown increased the margin to 44-12 after three quarters and the final stanza was played with a running clock.
“We had another tough game last night against another quality opponent,” said AMHS head coach Jessica Porter. “We did a better job taking care of the ball, but our shots didn’t fall. As always, the girls played hard and I’m proud of their effort.”
Only two players were able to find the scoring column for the Lady Jets. Summer Raymond connected on three 3-pointers and added a free throw to finish with 10 points, while Emmalynn Pupanek contributed three field goals for the other six tallies.
Pupanek grabbed eight rebounds and had two blocks for AMHS. Raymond and Chantal Morales recorded five boards apiece and Morales added four steals.
By contrast, 10 different players scored points for Uniontown, paced by 15 from Addisyn Hall and 13 by Rylee Coulter. Freshman Clara Stock was next in line with eight points.