KANE — ‘Unless you win the state title, your season ends with a loss.’

That line is a popular refrain this time of year from coaches heading into their respective state tournaments, and it’s one that was echoed by Coudersport girls coach Chris Fink after his team’s 55-51 loss to District 7 Leechburg (15-10) on Friday night in the first round of the Class AA tourney.

The Lady Blue Devils were led by a fantastic performance from MiKayla Lovelace, who scored a game-high 26 points.

It was a game that Fink and his players had to feel was one they should have had. The Lady Falcons (23-2) picked the wrong time to have arguably their worst shooting performance of the season, as after a solid first quarter, the Coudy offense went ice-cold from the floor.

Coudersport’s season comes to the same end as last year’s campaign, when the Falcons lost in the first round of the 2016 state tourney (that one being Class A) to Bishop Carroll.

Both teams came out firing to start the game. Leechburg in particular seemed eager to get going considering that it hadn’t played since Feb. 23 when the Blue Devils fell in the D7 tournament.

Lovelace notched eight points in the first quarter alone, prompting some strategic changes from Coudersport.

“At the end of the first quarter we changed defenses,” Fink said. “We basically manned up three of their players. [Lovelace], obviously, she’s averaging 24 points a game. And then [Cameron] Davies and [MaKenzie] Robilio we wanted to prevent them from hitting three-pointers.”

After trailing 18-15 at the end of one, the Falcons were able to slow down the pace a bit.

“It wasn’t necessarily the plan to slow things down but I think it took them out of their rhythm offensively a little bit,” Fink said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t exactly torching the net offensively.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Starting in the second quarter, the Falcons couldn’t buy a basket. Nothing, from any part of the court, was finding the bottom of the net.

The only thing keeping Coudy in the game was its offensive rebounding, as the Falcons absolutely dominated the Blue Devils on the board.

“I think I saw that we had 24 offensive rebounds, so we definitely had the possessions, we had the opportunities,” Fink said. “We’re not a great shooting team, but typically we do a little bit better than that.”

Ally Easton — who finished with 23 points — was the only Coudy player who really had any kind of flow offensively, as the senior used her size to dominate in the paint and on the boards.

“Those offensive rebounds are a testament to how hard our girls were playing and getting after things,” Fink said. “Both teams reallys scrapped.”

The Falcons were lucky to get to halftime trailing just 30-26 considering how poorly they were shooting the ball.

There was a need for a shot of momentum, and once again it was Easton who came up with just that, hitting a nice midrange jumper early in the third to tied the game at 32-32.

A three-point play by Macy Gleason (five points) midway through the quarter capped a 9-2 Coudy run and gave the Falcons a 35-32 lead.

Unfortunately, the poor shooting quickly returned, along with some ill-advised turnovers.

“Obviously we didn’t hit enough shots to come out on the winning side of things,” Fink said.

Several of those turnovers were caused by the defensive play of Lovelace, who used her long reach to intercept more than one errant Coudy pass.

The two sides entered the fourth quarter tied 38-38. The first few minutes of the period were a back and forth affair, with Leechburg playing well but not being able to put Coudy away.

After an Easton basket cut the deficit to 53-51 with under 30 seconds to go, the Falcons needed a takeaway on the ensuing Leechburg inbounds play.

But it wasn’t to be, as the Blue Devils’ execution was perfect: Fello (12 points) got open right under the rim and put home the easy layup to seal the victory and end Coudy’s season.

“The closer the games, the more heartbreaking it is,” Fink said, adding, “I know I’m going to be up all night thinking of things I could’ve done differently, and maybe some of the kids are too. But they played their hearts out all year. This has been a four-month season, and I think they practiced as hard this week as they did the first week of the season.”

At KANE

Leechburg (55)

Robilio 4 0-0 9, Makenzie Fello 3 6-6 12, Knight 0 2-2 2, Davies 2 0-0 6, MiKayla Lovelace 12 2-3 26, Totals 21 10-11 55.

Coudersport (51)

Haley Keck 4 0-0 10, Gleason 2 1-3 5, Ally Easton 10 3-4 23, Wood 2 2-4 6, E. Easton 3 0-0 7, Totals 21 6-11 51.

Leechburg     18  30  38  55

Coudersport  15  26  38  51

Three-point goals: Leechburg 3 (Davies 2, Robilio), Coudersport 3 (Keck 2, E. Easton)

Total fouls: Leechburg 13, Coudersport 12. Fouled out: none