Athens' stymies Towanda in 28-27 win

ATHENS - Down going into the fourth quarter the Wildcats called upon both their defense and offense to keep their NTL East title hopes alive.

They held the Black Knights to no points in the final period by using their offense as their defense. For the first four minutes of the final quarter the Wildcats ran were patient and ran clock, keeping the ball out of Towanda's hands. The Black Knight offense couldn't get going with so few touches and Athens was able to eek out a 28-27 win Thursday.

"Very rewarding," is how Athens' forward Danielle Stopper described this win. "I feel as those we worked hard during practices so it paid off."

The Knights jumped out early, going up 4-0 but two threes by the Wildcats put them up. However, Towanda's defense kept them ahead as they took a 10-8 first quarter lead.

Wildcat Monica Dougherty led a second quarter burst for Athens, hitting two threes while Christin Dunkling had four points to help her team keep pace with the Knights.

"It felt good," Dougherty remarked about her three first half threes. "It always feels good when you get into a rhythm."

Towanda got four points from Ashley Fleming and three from Darien Lantz in the second as the teams ended up tied at 20 during halftime.

Coming out of the half Athens struck first as Stopper hit a short jumper to put them 22-20. Lantz knotted things up with a driving lay-up. Then after an Athens turnover Lantz found Fleming for two more to take a 24-22 advantage.

Fleming then picked up a steal and took it all the way home with a short jumper to help Towanda go up by four 26-22.

Stopper stopped the Knight momentum, grabbing an offensive board and putting it back to cut it 26-24. With 1.9 seconds left Lantz got a steal underneath Athens' basket and was fouled on the lay-up attempt. She hit one of two to put her team up 27-24 going into the fourth.

It was the last point the Knights scored.

The first four minutes of the fourth were a stalemate at Towanda's end. Finally, with 3:20 left on the clock Stopper hit a field goal to bring Athens to within one. Dougherty then put the Wildcats up on a lay-up off Dunkling assist with two minutes left to play.

Lantz missed the go ahead bucket with 1:24 to go with the Wildcats snatching the rebound. They then went and did what they did all fourth quarter, they ran their offense.

With 41 seconds left, Towanda fouled, followed by another with 31.5 seconds left. The Wildcats then called a time-out with 16.6 seconds left to draw up a play.

However, Towanda's defense continued strong, forcing a five second call and getting the ball back. The Knights then called time-out to draw up one last play for the win.

With less than 10 seconds left Lantz drove right for the Knights but she wasn't able to turn the corner and the Wildcat defense swarmed her, getting the steal to seal the win.

"It was very nerve racking," Dougherty described about the final minutes. "We were really anxious."

This win was important for the Wildcats as they kept their NTL East title hopes alive. They are now tied with Wyalusing one game behind the Redskins, who just edged Athens in a similar style game earlier this week.

"Losing to Sayre was a tough loss," Stopper remarked. "This win picks our hopes up a little bit so we can look forward to future games."

Towanda's chances of winning the East title are now gone with four losses but should have a good seed come district play.

Dougherty led the Wildcats with 11 points while Stopper added eight, six of them in the fourth quarter. Dunkling added six, all in the first half while Mackenzie Hafer rounded out the scoring with a first quarter three.

Ashley Fleming led Towanda with 10 points and four rebounds while Darien Lantz had eight points, three assists and three steals. Alaina Wickwire netted five points along with two assists and two blocks while Alysha Grimes rounded out the Knight scoring with four points.

Rachael Donnelly led the defensive charge by taking on Lantz most of the game.

"I know that she's a really good player," Donnelly said about Lantz. "I just needed to try my hardest and hopefully stay in front of her and play well."

Donnelly did a good job throughout of keeping Lantz from turning the corner and also making it difficult for her to run the offense.

"I stayed up on her as much as I could and tried to keep it up all game."

Towanda won the JV game 39-32.

Kaitlin Hallabuk led the Knights with 15 while Jensen Dunklin had 12 for Athens.

Athens travels to Troy Saturday while Towanda is at Canton.