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The Bellwood-Antis Lady Blue Devils dropped their second game in a row as they fell to Bishop McCort 62-55 in the opening round of the Jaffa Shrine Basketball Tournament on Tuesday.

This game was part of a tournament in which basketball was returning to the Jaffa after a more than 10 year absence.

B-A lead after one quarter 17-15 but Bishop McCort’s Senior Machala Gibbons help the Lady Crushers gain the halftime advantage 27-25 thanks to her four three pointers in the second quarter.

The second half just like the first half was a back and forth affair as neither team could seem to sustain an adequate lead.

Heading in the final quarter Bishop McCort held a three point lead 44-41.

Senior Haley Thomas for Bishop McCort who will be teaming up with B-A’s Karson Swogger next season at Saint Francis University was a force all night long.

Thomas helped seal the victory for the Crushers in the fourth when she added ten points to her team high 27 and appeared to grab every defensive rebounding in route to her 20 rebound game. She also added five assist to her 20-20 performance.

Swogger was unstoppable in her own right during this contest as she did everything in her power to keep this B-A team in the game as she dropped a game high 29 points.

Swogger and Thomas both played very well individually in this game but seemed to get very little help from their teammates.

B-A and Bishop McCort only had one other player score in double figures in this one as Gibbons scored 18 for the Crushers and Freshman Allie Campbell netted 16 but really came alive in the fourth as she score 12 of her points then.

For a team who aspires to win district and state championships B-A’s 1-2 record is the last thing anyone could’ve expected out of this group.

Luckily for the Lady Blue Devils it is still very early in the season and now is a better time than ever to work out the early season kinks that it causing the team to lose games.

They will get a chance to get the bad taste of the past two losses out of their mouth as soon as possible as they will be taking on familiar ICC foe in Juniata Valley tonight in the consolation game of the tournament tonight at six.

Bishop McCort will be taking on Altoona in the Championship tonight at 7:30.