Bradford High’s Lady Owls took another step toward their goal of
winning the girls District 9 Class AAA basketball championship
trophy Tuesday night, but it wasn’t easy.

After a physical second game with Clearfield in their regular
season series, the Lady Owls survived a furious third-quarter rally
by the Lady Bisons to claim a 36-27 victory in their semifinal
round matchup at the Owls Nest.

The win advances Bradford to the finals against defending
champion Punxsutawney on Saturday. The teams split their regular
season series.

“Our goal this season has been to win districts and tonight the
kids all played as a team to get us there (title game),” said Doug
Lloyd, Bradford coach.

“Last year we were .500 and this year is our best season with 18
wins. Our players have put in the time and the work to get where we
are. This is their year,” he emphasized.

Scoring wise, the game started slowly although Bradford did take
a 6-0 lead over the first three minutes as Nicole Siffrinn and
Whitney Cline combined for three straight baskets.

Elizabeth Sopic finally got the Lady Bisons on the board with a
foul shot and Brooke Jordan added a basket to make it 6-3, but
Siffrinn made a perfect drive down the lane for a layup to close
out the first quarter and give Bradford an 8-3 advantage.

Bradford’s man defense gave Clearfield problems, preventing the
Lady Bisons from getting good shots as play got under way in the
second period.

Shelly Furhman buried a 3-pointer for an 11-3 Lady Owls lead,
but Clearfield whittled the difference down to six, 12-6, before
Katie White dropped in a layup to push the margin back to eight,
14-6.

Annie Janocko picked up a loose ball at the Bradford end of the
court and raced down the floor for an easy layup and a 14-8 score
at halftime.

“There wasn’t a lot of scoring in the first half,” said Lloyd.
“Clearfield came up here on our floor and did a good job. They
hustled, played hard and played good defense.”

In the third quarter the Lady Bisons battled their way back into
the game. An eight-point run, spearheaded by back-to-back 3-point
plays by Sopic and Jordan, tied the score at 18-18 with 2:45
remaining in the period.

“I was a little concerned,” Lloyd admitted, but the Lady Owls
responded to the challenge.

Bradford’s newest 1,000-point club member, Cline, scored the
next six points on two layups and a short jumper, and Siffrinn
banged home a buzzer beater to put the Lady Owls up by eight,
26-18, headed into the final eight minutes of play.

“Clearfield got after us in the third quarter to tie it up. It
was a wake up call for us,” said Lloyd. “We played very well after
that to go back up by eight. Being an older team paid off for
us.”

Kayla Murphey opened the fourth quarter with a long jumper and
two minutes later Cline’s baseline layup gave the Lady Owls their
largest lead of the night, 12 points, 30-18.

Bradford led by a dozen again at 32-20, with 3:42 remaining and
allowed Clearfield to get no closer than seven, 34-27, on a Nicole
Collins trifecta with 32 seconds left in the game.

A pair of Fuhrman free throws following an intentional foul call
sealed the Lady Owls’ 18th victory of the season.

“We played well tonight as a team,” Lloyd pointed out. “Nicole,
Whitney and Katie each had seven rebounds and Trisha (Copeland)
grabbed six. Nicole also had five assists.

“Kayla hit a big shot for us and had three steals and Megan
(Perschke) and Britani VanScoter both did a nice job defensively,”
he added.

Bradford, now 18-7, will play Punxstuawney at Clarion University
on Saturday for the Triple A title. The time has not yet been
determined.