Basketball teams begin season

The winter sport season brings basketball.  All basketball seasons are underway.  

Ninth grade maroon boys are at the record of 0-5. The maroon boys suffered a loss to Mifflin County of 27-18. Maroon boys played Park Forest and won 33-29.

“We only won because we prayed. We dedicated our game to the Savior himself,” ninth grader Mehki Perez said.

Ninth grade white boys just lost their game to Hollidaysburg with a score of 48-46. Edwin Franklin went in for the game winning shot, but missed.

The ninth grade girls are at the record of 0-8. They played Hollidaysburg and Mijanae White did the jump ball. They lost 49-37.

Players must adjust to winning and losing.

“It’s (losing) unnatural because we are used to winning,” Perez said.

Perez has played on the Mt. Lions team for three years.

Each team hopes to do well with the remainder of the season.

“ I think we started off bad but we’ll probably end up doing really good,” Perez said.

The boys ended up losing to one of Altoona’s biggest rivals, Hollidaysburg Tigers. However, players are excited a new player has joined the team.

“We got a transfer named Kyle Pheasant, and he straight sauces,” Perez said.

Kyle originally played for Hollidaysburg but moved schools in the 2017-2018 school year.

The team lost to Hollidaysburg however.

“I don’t feel anything. They got lucky. We fell asleep in the third quarter, that’s it. We’ll get them next time,” Perez said.

Mt. Lions will play Hollidaysburg once more this season, come February 1.

The ninth grade white boys’ basketball team evened their record at 1-1 with a 52-27 victory over DuBois.  Scott Lawhead led the way with 19 points.  Nate Cornelius chipped in with 8.  The team opened up its home schedule on Tuesday when they host Hollidaysburg. They lost to Hollidaysburg 48-46 making their record 1-2.

The eighth grade white boys suffered a loss to Elk County. With the team merging with ninth grade, Nate Cornelius scored the most points, but not enough to bring the team back from the 12 point lead Elk boys held over the Mt. Lions. Eighth grade boys’ white lost to DuBois, 31 to 35. High scorers were Jayce Hettinger with 15 and Matt Moyer with 10. Boys’ eighth grade white defeated Hollidaysburg 46 – 30. High scorers include Jordan Lestochi with 17 and Lucas Muffie with 10 points.

On Saturday, the eighth grade maroon girls won the Bishop Guilfoyle Junior High Jam Tournament. Seventh and eighth grade division went 3-0 for the day. In game one, the girls played Bishop Guilfoyle and won by a whopping 40-16 with Reese Tremitierre scoring 11 points. Game 2, the girls played Everett, winning 45-37, with Mercedes Thompson scoring 10 points. Finally, game 3, the championship game, the girls played eighth grade white team, winning 45-28 with Jaci Clouser scoring 16 points.

Ninth grade girls suffered several losses this weekend. After a defeat to Bishop McCort on Friday, they lost all hopes for the weekend. On came Saturday, as did another loss. Bishop Carol beat the Mt. Lion 24-21 this Saturday. 2 games were being held for the girls Saturday. The Penn Cambria game was also another loss for the Mt. Lion girls. Sunday was another loss for the girls to Cambria Heights. The score gap was a 45-30 lead in the final results.

Seventh grade white boys beat Dubois 43-20 on Wednesday night. Kadyn Carey was the highest scorer with 11 points.

Seventh grade team members are adjusting to junior high play.

“They’re not that intimidating,” seventh grade basketball player, Kadyn Carey said.

Carey has never experienced playing with older kids.

“I think we’ ll do pretty good because of the draft,” Carey said.

Carey was the highest score in his most recent game against Dubois.

“We played Spring Cove, but we need a little bit more work,” Carey said.