CLARION – It’s easy to set a high goal for yourself, but it
becomes a true accomplishment when you reach it and that’s just
what Bradford High’s girls’ basketball team did Saturday night.
The Lady Owls unseated Punxsutawney as the dominant Triple-A
team in the district where they had won five straight titles, but
it wasn’t easy and turned into a nailbiter at the end.
Bradford, in complete control for three quarters, had to survive
a six-minute meltdown in the fourth quarter to hang on for a 33-31
victory over the Lady Chucks in the championship game at Clarion
University’s Tippin Gymnasium.
“It feels good to win a championship,” said Bradford coach Doug
Lloyd, as he looked at the winner’s plaque given to his team. “I
really liked the trophies with the gold basketballs that they used
to give out, but we’ll take it no matter what it is.”
When Lloyd starred for Bradford during his high school career,
Owls teams brought home three straight “gold ball” trophies
symbolic of district titles. Now he’s enjoying the opportunity to
give something back, but as a coach.
“Our goal this year was to win the district title,” he
explained. “The kids have all worked hard to achieve it and now
they know how good if feels. I hope that our younger kids will pick
up on that feeling.”
The feeling very nearly didn’t happen after Punxsy turned up the
heat both offensively and defensively in the fourth quarter and
Bradford watched a lead that had reached 15 points, evaporate.
“We knew Punxsy was going to make a run,” Lloyd explained. “It’s
a tradition with them. After playing hard the first half we wore
down a little in the fourth quarter and they (Lady Chucks) picked
up their pressure on us.
“What we were doing worked though and the kids held on,” he
added.
The Lady Owls literally could do no wrong in the first half.
Their man defense again frustrated the Lady Chucks and took them
out of their game plan.
Single foul shots by Katie White and Whitney Cline, Shelly
Fuhrman’s 3-pointer and a Cline layup off a pass from White, had
Bradford in front 7-0 with 3:51 left in the opening quarter.
Samantha Reitz finally got the Lady Chucks on the board by
putting an offensive rebound back up and in at the 3:43 mark, but
Bradford went on a 6-2 run, capped by Nicole Siffrinn’s 12-footer
from the corner, to lead 13-4 after one period.
Just when Punxsy thought Bradford’s defense couldn’t get any
better, the Lady Owls turned up the heat even higher and gave up
just two points in the second stanza.
Jessica Toven’s layup with 2:50 remaining accounted for all of
the Lady Chucks scoring.
Bradford was no point scoring machine itself in the quarter, but
got two jumpers from Siffrinn and a layup by Cline for six points
and a 19-6 lead at halftime.
“I really thought we should have been up a few more points in
the first half, but we didn’t hit our foul shots and had a little
hard luck with our shooting, like the “3” Shelly shot that rolled
around the rim and popped back out,” said Lloyd.
No matter. Punxsy, its fans and even members of the media were
shaking their heads at the fact the Lady Chucks had been held to
just six points in the first 16 minutes of play.
The teams matched points as play worked through the third
quarter, Bradford maintaining a steady lead through the midway
point.
With 3:35 left, White and Britani Van Scoter combined on a
six-point spurt that sent the Lady Owls into the final eight
minutes of play with a solid 15-point, 27-12, advantage.
That was a wake up call for the defending champions.
The Lady Chucks took the floor on a mission and reeled off 11
unanswered points while the Lady Owls struggled to get the ball up
the floor.
With 2:02 left, Cline made what was quite possibly the
game-saving play of the contest. She jumped up to stop a lob pass
that if converted would have cut the Bradford lead to two points
and grabbed the loose ball for the steal.
Cline then fired the outlet pass to Fuhrman who was fouled
immediately. The junior sank both free throws to end Punxsy’s run
and put the Lady Owls up by six, 29-23, with 1:57 remaining.
The Lady Chucks went inside to Amanda Wehrle for a basket, but
Siffrinn responded with a rebound put-back to keep Bradford in
front by six, 31-25, with 1:20 showing.
Punxsy’s 1,000-point scorer, Lauren Martino, drained four
straight foul shots to make it a two-point difference, 31-29, with
23 seconds left on the clock.
White sent one free throw through the iron for a three-point
lead, 32-29, but Wehrle again converted inside to make it one
point, 32-31, with nine ticks left .
Two seconds later Fuhrman was back on the line and converted the
front end of a one-and-one to make it 33-31 and the clock ran out
before Punxsy could get in position for one last good look at the
basket.
“Whitney did a heck of a job defensively on Martino, their top
scorer, and Nikki played well offensively (10 points) and handled
their pressure in the second half,” Lloyd pointed out.
“Britani Van Scoter got us two big baskets in the third quarter
and came up with a big steal and Megan (Perschke) came off the
bench and played well against their big girl inside.
“I can’t say enough about our bench. We got big contributions
from those kids,” he noted. “This really was a team win for
us.”
“Our kids played great defense and defense wins championships,
which they proved tonight. When we can keep it a low scoring game,
we can beat anyone.”
Bradford, now 19-6, will play Moon, the 3rd place finisher from
District 7, on Saturday at St. Marys in the first round of the
girls PIAA Class AAA playoffs. Starting time is set for 4:30
p.m.
