HS Girls’ Basketball: Henninger shoots Blue Mountain past Panther Valley
Blue Mountain's Ruby Henninger attempts a shot during Thursday's win over Panther Valley (Photo by Karlee Feger).
ORWIGSBURG — Blue Mountain is back to a winning Schuylkill League record. Getting there Thursday wasn’t easy.
Ruby Henninger drained four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 16 points as Blue Mountain defeated Panther Valley 47-39 in a Schuylkill League Division I girls’ basketball matchup.
The victory improves Blue Mountain to 7-10 overall but more importantly 6-5 in Division I play. The Eagles moved within one game of Tamaqua (15-4, 7-4) for the third Schuylkill League playoff berth from Division I, and need one more league victory to qualify for the District 11 Class 4A playoffs.
Blue Mountain got off to a hot start by scoring 16 points in the first quarter, with Henninger tallying seven of her points. Brenna McAndrew scored the Panthers’ lone bucket before the Eagles went on a 14-0 run to lead 16-2 after one frame.
Makayla Keck hit one of her two 3-pointers and Hailey Place and Mila Fleagle each scored a bucket to lead the Eagles into halftime with a 13-point lead at 23-10. Panther Valley’s Morgan Orsulak scored five of her team-high 13 points to keep the Panthers alive.
The Panthers scored seven unanswered points to close the gap to five points at the 5-minute mark of the third quarter. Fleagle was able to get to the rim after the Eagles’ timeout. The Panthers connected on four of their six 3-pointers in the period to make it a one-point game late in the frame. Henninger hit two 3-pointers herself, one beating the buzzer, giving the Eagles a 32-28 lead heading into the fourth.
Foul shots proved their importance in the fourth quarter as the Eagles shot 6-of-10 in the final minutes. Henninger and Keck each made a three and Place scored four of her eight points in the fourth to help Blue Mountain grab the win.
