It’s hard to say what Bradford would do without sophomores Katie
White and Tricia Copeland in their roles as reserves for the Lady
Owls.
As much as the starters have done to help the Lady Owls (10-9)
fashion a winning record this season, White and Copeland are
crucial to the team’s success.
You might say it’s not who starts, but who finishes – and that
duo played a big part in finishing off St. Marys , 57-37, in
District 9 League action Wednesday.
“Tricia and Katie change the face of the game,” Lloyd
emphasized. “They pick up the tempo and everybody seems to pick up
with them. They are a tough twosome.
“They hound the ball end to end and it’s tough, as an offensive
player, to always have someone on you,” Lloyd reasoned. “It wears
you out and I think we kind of wore them (St. Marys) out.”
At the start, it looked as if the Lady Dutch might actually be
the ones wearing out the Lady Owls.
Missy Aul, Kara Carnovale and Lauren Pelgrin gave the visitors a
7-0 lead at the 4:35 point of the first.
Bradford then called a timeout to reorganize and at the 2:53
mark, both White and Copeland entered the game.
From here, the Lady Owls erupted with a 10-2 run from junior
leaders Nikki Siffrinn (4 points) and Whitney Cline (6).
“We came out a little lethargic,” Lloyd recalled. “We had a
rough first few minutes.
“St. Marys came out hard and played well right off the bat. They
were ready for everything we had and I thought it might be one of
those nights.
“Then Coach (Natalie) Marasco suggested we go to a press and
from there we got a couple of steals and a couple of layups. We
started pushing the ball and defensively we were all over the
floor.”
St. Marys had an opportunity to take the lead at half, but
Siffrinn drained a pull-up jumper from 17 feet out and White buried
two free throws to a 23-23 game.
Morgan Pasi regained the lead for St. Marys at 25-23 on an
offensive rebound put-back.
But on Bradford’s next defensive trip, Copeland came up with two
big blocks on the same possession, allowing Siffrinn to attack the
rim for two and the 25-25 tie at the break.
Then in the third the Lady Owls said enough is enough and
dominated, blowing up with 23 points and stifling the Lady Dutch,
who scored only five. The hosts took a 48-30 bulge into the
fourth.
“We came out a lot more intense in the second half,” Lloyd
said.
In the final eight mintues, St. Marys whittled its deficit back
down to 13 at 48-35 with 4:06 to go, but BHS answered with seven
unanswered for a 20-point bulge.
The 5-10 forward Cline showed her range, stepping out and
drilling a deep ball. The speedster White then added a layup and
Fuhrman excuted a nice turn-around kiss off the glass to secure the
final margin.
Cline finished the game with yet another double-double with a
game-high 20 points and 14 boards. White contributed 12 points and
four steals; Siffrinn collected 12 points, seven assists and six
boards; Fuhrman was good for 10 points and six boards; and Copeland
recorded four blocks and three steals.
“The story of this game was Whit’s rebounds, Nikki’s assists,
Katie’s steals and Tricia’s blocks,” Lloyd stated. “Tricia didn’t
have to score, Shelly battled inside, Whit rebounded well. And
Nikki … just give her the ball and get out of the way.”
Leading the Lady Dutch was Pelgrin with 14 points.
The Lady Owls, now 4-6 in District 9 League play, will visit
Clearfield for another D-9 League game Friday.
