ST. MARYS — Listening to Jason Luther talk about his team, the Port Allegany coach knows his time with this group is anything but assured as playoff basketball is in full swing.

Thanks to a 26-point effort by senior guard Autumn Buchsenschutz and five other scorers, the Lady Gators (14-9) are moving on and continuing their season after a 60-46 win over Curwensville (10-13) in the District 9 Class AA quarterfinals Tuesday at Elk Catholic. The win moves Port Allegany into the semifinals against top-seeded and North Tier League rival Coudersport at 7 p.m. Friday at Austin High School.

The Lady Falcons (21-2) handed the Lady Gators two losses — by 32 and 15 points — earlier this season. Coudersport has been idle since its season ended Feb. 13.

“We’ve got some ideas,” Luther said about how he might gameplan against the Lady Falcons. “They’re really good. They’re really well-coached. They have length, they have athleticism, they have depth. But the thing is, too, on any given night, anybody can beat anyone.

“That’s one of the great things about basketball. We have to bring our A-plus game. It can’t be our A-game, it has to be our A-plus game.”

A key for the Lady Gators was their ability to keep the taller Curwensville squad off the offensive glass. Hannah Lathrop (six points), for the sixth-straight game, had double-digit rebounding totals after her 11 led the team Tuesday.

“Our girls have a lot of desire and they’ve taken a lot of pride in what they do on defense this year,” Luther said. “Obviously, we were undersized.

Cailey Barnett (12 points) and Leah Garzel (six points) each had seven rebounds for Port Allegany.

“I just thought, collectively, we did our job,” Luther said. “We made one or two mistakes. That’s all them. That’s desire, all heart and wanting to win that battle.”

It helped that Port Allegany led from the onset after back-to-back treys by Buchsenschutz and Barnett put the team up 6-2 and took a 29-21 lead into halftime.

Meanwhile, Buchsenschutz, who topped 1,000 career points earlier this year, helped the Lady Gators pull away in the second half. Out of the locker room, Buchsenschutz came out scoring on a layup and then knocked down a 3-pointer off an inbounds play as her team stretched its lead to 36-21 in the first three minutes of the quarter.

Then in the fourth, Luther called for his team to go into its dribble-weave offense, stretching the lead to 17 at times. When Curwensville overplayed on the perimeter, driving lanes for Buchsenschutz opened as she breezed for easy score after easy score.

“That was kind of our M.O.,” Luther said. “We spread you out, try to get to the basket, penetrate and kick. We have some girls who can shoot it, some girls who can get to the basket. We always say if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. They were just giving us layups. There was no need to pull the trigger if they’re giving you twos.”

That style was a contrast in how the first half played out, with Cailey Barnett hitting three deep jumpers to keep the defense honest. Just three Lady Tide players scored, with Hannah Dixon (22 points) and Madison Weber (17 points) contributing most of the offense.

Being able to get a mostly inexperienced team’s feet wet in the playoffs while avoiding Coudersport in their first game was a plus in the way the bracket worked out, Luther said. Because three teams from Class AA advance out of D-9 into the state playoffs, Port Allegany is guaranteed at least two more games.

That, for Luther, means more time for he and his team to spend together.

“This time of year, as many games as we can get are just bonus for us,” Luther said. “It gives us extra time to spend as a unit too. I’m fortunate to have a really good group of kids. They’re fun to be around. As many games as we can play, the better it will be.”

AT ST. MARYS

Curwensville (46)

Hannah Dixon 6 7-8 22, Christine Limbert 3 1-4 7, Madison Weber 7 1-4 17, Nichole Wormuth 0 0-0 0, Maddie McCracken 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 9-16 46.

Port Allegany (60)

Sprankle 1 0-0 2, Stauffer 3 1-3 7, Autumn Buchsenschutz 10 3-3 26, Cailey Barnett 4 1-2 12, Garzel 2 2-2 6, Roys 0 0-1 1, Lathrop 1 4-6 6. Totals: 21 12-18 60.

Curwensville  10 21 33 46

Port Allegany 16 29 45 60

Three-point goals: Curwensville 5 (Dixon 3, Weber 2); Port Allegany 6 (Buchsenschutz 3, Barnett 3)

Total fouls: Curwensville 15, Port Allegany 18. Fouled out: Limbert (Curwensville)