It’s a cliche among coaches that there are no “moral victories.” A loss is a loss. But Bradford coach Bob Hannon had to be proud of how well his team performed against perhaps the best team in the area.
The Lady Owls fell to Coudersport on Saturday night 67-58, playing what may have been their best all-around game of the season despite the loss.
“It’s never easy to take a loss, you never want to take a loss, but that team’s undefeated, and I don’t know in our area who’s going to beat them,” coach Hannon said. “They may go into the playoffs undefeated.”
There were certainly moments when the Lady Falcons looked like they were about to blow things wide open, but for the most part the game was competitive until the final whistle.
“Coach [Hannon] is doing a great job,” Coudersport coach Chris Fink said. “We knew that [Bri] Wells has been a problem for us for a few years, but those other kids are really coming along. I thought they played a really good game.”
Bri Wells was once again the leading scorer for Bradford, finishing with a game-high 27 points. But she was getting plenty of help in the early going from her teammates, as the Owls were staying right with Coudy thanks to some solid first quarter defense.
“We told the girls early on that Coudersport was going to be one of the better teams we’ll play,” Hannon said. “They’re one of the best teams in the area. They’ve got experience, they’ve got size, they’ve got girls who can shoot it.”
Coudy’s Skyler VanWagenen (10 points) hit a late three-pointer to give the visitors a 17-10 lead after one.
Both sides continued to battle closely in the second quarter. Three straight buckets by Wells cut Bradford’s deficit to 20-17.
The Owls were creating great defensive pressure which lead to numerous fast break opportunities. Wells capitalized on such a play late in the half, hitting the layup, drawing the foul and making her free throw to give Bradford a 26-24 lead to ignite the home crowd.
However, that advantage would prove to be short-lived. Coudersport answered back with several buckets of their own, and went into the half with a 31-28 advantage.
In the second half, the Falcons began to show why they are considered by many to be among the best teams in the area. Led by the combination of Ally Easton (20 points) and Haley Keck (18), Coudy began to pull away, quickly stretching their lead to double-digits.
“Our girls came out in the second half and really got after things defensively,” Fink said. “We showed them a few things that maybe we hadn’t shown in the first half.”
“We just didn’t respond well in the second half when they turned up the pressure,” Hannon said. “We threw the ball away a couple different times and that just fed into easy offense for them and before you know it a three-point game became a 13-point game.”
Bradford wasn’t getting the easy looks they had gotten in the first half, and those misses were compounded by their inability to grab rebounds on either end.
“We still struggle on the defensive glass,” Hannon said. “There’s too many offensive rebounds that we gave up, and then we get in foul trouble because we’re giving up rebounds and then fouling. We have to have it in ourselves to have a tougher mental attitude about rebounding.”
To Bradford’s credit, they hung tough when it looked like the game was getting away from them. A couple late baskets by Wells cut Coudy’s lead to 51-38 going into the fourth quarter.
“The problem with a young team like ours is that you have to play well consistently,” Hannon said. “It can’t be once in awhile, it’s got to be all the time. If you get away from that, against a good team like [Coudersport], you’re not going to stay in the game.”
In the fourth quarter, Coudersport continued to turn up the pressure, allowing them to keep Bradford at arm’s length.
“We have a lot of contributors,” Fink said. “We’re going to play eight, nine or ten kids. Everybody can do a little something for us.”
While they weren’t quite able to climb all the way back, the Owls showed some good spark in the late going. Brinya Moffett had an excellent game in the paint, getting to the free throw line consistently and making her shots at the line count. She finished with 15 points.
The Lady Owls (1-9) will return to the court on Wednesday when they host North East in a non-league game. Coudersport (9-0) will try to keep its undefeated season alive Tuesday when it hosts Cameron County.
