Given her performances against Otto-Eldred this season, Coudersport’s Sarah Chambers probably wouldn’t mind seeing the Lady Terrors on the schedule a few more times.
After pacing the Lady Falcons to victory in both regular-season wins over O-E this year, the guard-forward hybrid once again was at the forefront of Coudersport’s success against its North Tier League rival.
Chambers scored 14 points and was part of a dominating Coudy performance on the glass as the No. 2 Lady Falcons raced past third-seed O-E, 62-40, in a District 9 Class A semifinal game at Bradford High Tuesday night.
“Sarah can score the ball, and she’s been getting stronger underneath and getting put-backs,” Coudy (20-4) coach Bob Tingley said. “I think her biggest improvement has been making those contested inside shots when she’s getting bumped. She’s making those and it’s helping her tremendously, and it’s coming at a good time.”
It was the third time Chambers went for double figures on the Lady Terrors (16-7). She put up a team-high 11 points in Coudy’s 43-24 win over O-E on Jan. 13, and scored 21 points against the Lady Terrors in a 50-35 win on Feb. 11.
Where her presence was most felt Tuesday night, though, was on the defensive end, at least if you ask O-E coach Shawn Gray.
Gray said the Lady Terrors had a plan to take it straight at Chambers during the game, but found themselves getting too skittish around the rim — a tendency he titled the “purple panic.”
“It seems like it’s a purple panic when we play Coudersport. We get scared around the rim, and we don’t finish well,” he said. “Sarah has something to do with that with her size, because kids are going up into their shots thinking they’ll get blocked, and ultimately they miss because of it.”
And when misses from either team came, Coudy made sure to clean up the glass. The Lady Falcons out-rebounded O-E 39-16 according to Gray. Of those, 15 came on the offensive glass.
“I sure am thrilled, because I stress rebounding,” Tingley said. “I really do (stress rebounding), and the kids bought into it. If we keep doing that, we’ll be OK. Sometimes we get into games where we can’t score the ball, but if we’re rebounding and playing defense, it keeps us in the game.”
In addition to Chambers’ big night, the Falcons once again received big contributions from Mikayla Gunn and Rosalyn Page.
Gunn, who scored 15 points in the Lady Falcons’ quarterfinal win over DuBois Central Catholic, led all scorers Tuesday with 17 points, while Page added 12 points against O-E after scoring a team-high 19 against DCC.
Despite their performances, O-E was in the mix early on. The Lady Terrors trailed just 17-12 after the first quarter, and actually tied the game up 17-17 early in the second.
But that was as close as it got the rest of the way, as Coudy used Gunn’s quick start, strong rebounding and second-chance opportunities to take a 33-22 lead into the intermission.
“Before the game, I told the girls if we rebound, we’ll be fine,” Gray said. “We left a couple of (Coudersport’s) players open and decided if they beat us, we’ll have to live with that. But when we missed shots, we didn’t clear it… They had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and probably 20 points off of it, and we were down 11.”
Out of the break, O-E got to within nine points a couple times, but never fully got over the hump and back into the game.
Morgan Dalton led the Lady Terrors with nine points, while Haley Cousins and Jadelyn Spinney each added seven. It was the third time in as many matchups between the teams that O-E was held without a scorer in double figures.
In all, the Lady Terrors finished 15-for-47 from the field, while Coudy shot 24-of-55.
Both teams will continue through the postseason, as the Lady Falcons will take on No. 1 North Clarion in the Class A championship, while O-E will take on fourth-seeded Elk County Catholic in the third-place consolation game. All four teams will advance to the PIAA state tournament afterward.
Tingley says Coudersport will prepare by focusing more on itself than on its counterparts.
“The next couple days will be dedicated to doing what we do, and then the last practice we’ll focus on what (North Clarion) tries to do,” he said. “But I’m more concerned about what we do than what our opponent does.”
For Gray, meanwhile, the message for his young Lady Terrors is simple: remain positive and use the loss as a learning experience, because plenty of season remains.
“I’m so proud of our kids. I told them a lot of coaches never get to coach in a state game, and some coaches never even get to go to districts, and I’ve been in Districts the first two years I’ve been here because of these kids,” he said. “I told them keep their heads up, because we have at least two more games this year… (The loss) hurt them really bad, I could see it on their faces, and there were a lot of tears, but if we learn from it, that’s all we can expect.”
AT BRADFORD
Otto-Eldred (40)
Morgan Dalton 3 0-0 9, K. Sheeler 2 2-2 6, Cousins 2 2-2 7, Spinney 3 0-0 7, Merry 2 0-0 5, K. Heller 2 0-0 4, B. Heller 1 0-6 2. Totals: 15 4-10 40
Coudersport (62)
Mikayla Gunn 7 0-0 17, Sarah Chambers 6 1-1 14, Rosalyn Page 5 2-2 12, Porterfield 1 0-0 3, Stimaker 2 4-9 9, Frame 2 1-2 5, E. Chambers 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 8-14 62
Otto-Eldred 12 22 33 40
Coudersport 17 33 46 62
Three-point goals: O-E 6 (Dalton 3, Cousins 1, Merry 1, Spinney 1), Coudy 6 (Gunn 3, Porterfield 1, Stimaker 1, S. Chambers 1); Total fouls: O-E 15, Coudy 8; fouled out: Raught (O-E)
Class A Semifinals
No. 1 North Clarion 62, No. 4 Elk County Catholic 47
KANE — Abby Gatesman scored 19 points as first-seed North Clarion rolled past No. 4 Elk Catholic.
North Clarion (24-0) held a narrow 28-25 lead at halftime before outscoring the Lady Crusaders (15-11) by nine in the third quarter to pull away.
Mackenzie Bauer (11 points) and Gabby Schmader (13 points) were also in double figures for North Clarion.
Taylor Newton and Brooke Bauer scored 16 and 15 points for ECC, respectively.
The Lady Wolves will face Coudersport in Saturday’s D9 Class A championship, while ECC will meet Otto-Eldred in the third-place consolation game.
