Though they used a big second half on Friday night to pull away against Knoch, the Armstrong River Hawks’ girls varsity basketball team could not duplicate the feat in Saturday’s River Hawk Tip-Off Tournament championship game against Butler.
Instead, head coach Kirk Lorigan’s team let a second half lead slip away to the Golden Tornado in what ultimately turned out to be a 51-45 loss in the title game.
Armstrong senior forward had a big game for the River Hawks but got little in the way of scoring support from her teammates against Butler.
Bowser led all scorers with a game-high 22 points and she also led the River Hawks with eight rebounds and tied for the team lead with two steals in the game.
Senior guard Madi Lorigan added six points for Armstrong, as did sophomore guard Shaelyn Clark.
Senior forward Sophia Duncan, who has played extremely well for the River Hawks as the team’s first player off the bench was in the midst of another strong performance when she got tangled up with a Butler player and suffered a badly sprained ankle in the fourth quarter.
At that point, Duncan had recorded five points, six rebounds and two blocks down low and her strong post play and defense was missed down the stretch. Despite the injury, Lorigan believes that Duncan will return soon.
