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MORRISTOWN -- Less than one month ago, the Union Local girls' basketball team dropped a hard-fought game on the road to Bellaire.
Now, as the calendar flips to 2024, the Jets flipped the script and defeated that same Bellaire squad 51-28 inside the gymnasium of Union Local High School on Friday night.
"I"m really proud of our girls and our defensive effort," UL coach Scooter Tolzda said. "After they beat us the first time, I really thought we had some outstanding performances (Thursday). I especially liked Ella's (Pietranton) and Laken's (Vinskovich) defensive effort against two of their better scorers.
"All of the girls were in the right position and we boxed out well. Right from the start we handled their press and it was a big turnaround from the first game. We really respect Bellaire and think they are a good team but I"m really proud of our girls. This was a big win for us."
The Jets got off to a roaring start with a 10-0 run as Lauren Miller and Ella Pietranton each connected on 3-point shots in the first few minutes of action. The UL defense was strong early too, forcing four Big Reds' turnovers in the opening stanza and keeping them off the scoreboard until the 2:52 mark of the first quarter.
Union Local (7-4) held a 15-3 upper hand after one and opened the second on a 9-2 run to extend its lead to 24-5. However, the Big Reds (8-4) showed heart and hustle and finished the half on a 10-2 spurt. Bellaire's second-quarter charge was sparked by momentum-changing 3-pointers from Allie Ault and Zara Harveth that helped cut the halftime deficit to 26-15.
"We settled in," Bellaire coach John Farrier said of his team's late first half surge. "We usually do a press defense but it wasn't working out for us early so we went into our halfcourt defense and that helped us out a little bit but we just couldn't get over the hump."
Tolzda's halftime message for his Jets was simple.
"We just told them not to panic," Tolzda said. "We said we had to settle down and get into our offense. We liked where we were on defense but we just had to settle down on offense and I think we did that and got into a groove in the second half."
The Big Reds continued to crawl back into the game as they started the third on a 6-1 march to create a 27-21 deficit, but Tolzda's crew weathered the storm and began to pull away - taking a 37-24 cushion into the final frame.
After bucketing the first nine points of the fourth, the Jets never looked back as they could not be denied down the stretch in avenging last month's loss.
Miller paved the way for the Jets with 20 points and a pair of treys, while Vinskovich tallied 10 points, Pietranton netted seven and Myiah Martin added five.
"I still see a lot of things we can get better at," Tolzda said. "I"m just really proud of all of our girls. It was a Buckeye 8 game, anybody can beat anybody, and hopefully this win goes a long way for us."
Harveth paced Bellaire with 10 points, followed by Elaina Mason with nine and Rhyan O'Grady with five.
"The last time we played them, we came out and took control of the game early with an 11-2 lead," Farrier said. "(Thursday) was basically the exact opposite. They came out and took control of the game and pretty much controlled the whole game. They had a good game plan and they did all the little things well. I thought they were better prepared but we have to just put this one in our back window and move on."