George Bragan, center, talks to his Lackawanna Trail girls basketball team during a timeout in the Dec. 1 season opener.
Tom Robinson | Abington Journal
CLINTON TWP. — Mid Valley held host Lackawanna Trail without a field goal for the last 10½ minutes of the first half Dec. 1, scoring 24 straight points in the process, on the way to a 42-25 victory that spoiled George Bragan’s debut as girls basketball coach of the Lady Lions.
Lackawanna Trail’s only lead was 1-0 on an Aubrie Pinney free throw 1:02 into the game.
Pinney’s drive tied the game at 4-4 with 2:31 left in the first quarter.
The only point the Lady Lions managed the rest of the first half came when Madeleine Forer hit one of two free throws with 11.8 seconds left in the second quarter.
By then, the Spartanettes had scored the last five points of the first quarter and gone 4-for-7 on 3-pointers to score the first 19 of the second quarter for a 28-4 lead.
Lackawanna Trail played better in the second half, cutting its turnovers from 23 to 15.
The Lady Lions outscored the Spartanettes 9-7 in the third quarter and 11-7 in the fourth quarter.
“The second half is what we are capable of,” Bragan said. “In the first half, our inexperience showed.
“I tried to calm them down, but they still don’t understand that they need to slow things down as opposed to speed things up. When we learn that, we’re going to be pretty good.“
Ayla Seigle scored seven of the points in the third quarter to finish with 10 points.
Pinney added seven points.
Maddy Forer grabbed nine rebounds and made four steals. London Lisk blocked three shots.
Maggie Scanlon came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers and score 11 points for Mid Valley. Madison Tully had six steals.
Season outlook
Bragan is serving as a varsity coach for the first time since he led the Dover girls program near York for three years in the mid-1980s.
Since then, Bragan spent 33 years as a junior high, junior varsity, and assistant varsity coach in the girls program at Abington Heights. He retired as a teacher from the Abington Heights School District.
Bragan inherits a team that went 6-8 in Lackawanna League Division 3 and 6-17 overall last season and returns just one starter.
Seigle, a senior guard, was the leading scorer last season.
Lisk, a sophomore forward, made a few spot starts.
Senior center Kaitlyn Gerrity has some experience, while junior forward Madeleine Forer also received limited playing time a year ago.
They were in the Opening Night starting lineup along with Pinney, a junior guard.
Carys Williams, the team’s other senior, was the first player off the bench.
Juniors Temple Shaw and Kacie Antolick also saw action, along with freshmen Elle Vanko and Alana Edwards.
