DUKE CENTER — The night before Saturday night’s District 9 Class A semifinal against Elk County Catholic, Otto-Eldred head girls basketball coach Shawn Gray presented the triangle and two defense to his team via the team’s group chat.
Even though the Lady Terrors hadn’t practiced it, that’s what they would run defensively against ECC and it paid off.
O-E held the Lady Crusaders scoreless in the fourth quarter and to just 22 points overall, using an 11-0 run in the final stanza to earn a 35-22 win and berth into Tuesday’s title game against top-seeded Coudersport.
“They were good with it. My two leaders Morgan Dalton and Emmalee Sheeler said, ‘Yeah, let’s try it,’ and that’s what we did. I think it kind of threw them off a little bit in that first quarter,” Gray said. “I can’t say enough good things about how my kids played (Saturday).”
Katie Sheeler scored eight of her game-high 16 points during the first quarter and Dalton had five to give the Lady Terrors a 13-5 lead. But ECC (17-7) would battle back and trail by just two points at halftime and heading into the fourth quarter.
(Katie Sheeler) worked for every shot she got (Saturday), not just the ones she made, but the ones that she got off,” Gray said. “They did a really good job keying in on her. Morgan Dalton sparked us in the first quarter.”
But that’s when O-E put its foot down and shut out ECC in the fourth, while five different players scored for the Lady Terrors (16-4) in the final period to seal the win.
Gray also commended Emmalee Sheeler’s defensive effort on ECC’s Brooke Bauer, who was held scoreless during the game. Sydney Alexander was ECC’s leading scorer with seven points, while Tori Newton had six. Dalton was behind Katie Sheeler with seven points for O-E.
“That’s a really good team,” Gray said of ECC. “They’re already so good and they’re young and they’re going to be a lot of trouble in the future.”
AT DUKE CENTER
Elk Catholic (22)
Alexander 3 0-0 7, Newton 3 0-0 6, Klawuhn 2 0-0 5, Aikens 1 0-0 3, Geci 0 1-2 1. Totals: 9 1-2 22
Otto-Eldred (35)
Katie Sheeler 6 1-1 16, Dalton 3 0-0 7, Merry 1 2-2 4, E. Sheeler 0 2-2 2, Raught 1 0-0 2, K. Heller 1 0-0 2, B. Heller 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 5-5 35
Elk Catholic 5 13 22 22
Otto-Eldred 13 15 24 35
Three-point goals: ECC 3 (Aikens, Alexander, Klawuhn), O-E 4 (K. Sheeler 3, Dalton); Total fouls: ECC 11, O-E 12; fouled out: None
CLASS AA
Saturday’s Championship
1. Karns City 67, 2. Coudersport 65
KARNS CITY — Coudersport came up just short of a district title win on Saturday, falling to top-seeded Karns City in a thriller.
The Falcons (14-6) led by 15 points in the first half and nine points at halftime. Karns City responded by outscoring Coudy, 24-10, during the third quarter to take a 51-46 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Coudy showed resilience and battled back in an exciting fourth quarter of action.
“It was really physical,” Coudy head coach Scott Easton said. “But it was a physicality that we’re typically OK with (in) Coudy basketball.”
With Karns City (22-2) leading 65-61, Coudy’s Christian Furman nailed a three-pointer to put Coudy within a point with 10.3 seconds left. After two made free throws from Chase Beighley, who finished with 19 points, Hayden Keck missed a three-pointer but was fouled with 1.2 seconds to go. He made the first one which was followed by a timeout. Keck then missed the second and missed the third intentionally in an attempt for Coudy to get a rebound and a potential shot off, but the Falcons weren’t able to.
Keck was the Falcons’ leading scorer with 19 points, while Brandt Kightlinger had 17 and Derek Easton recorded 15. Nathan Waltman led Karns City with 22 points.
“(It’s) disappointing for the kids, for the coaching staff,” Easton said. “We had hoped to win the district title, but we also recognize as well (that) we played a really good basketball game yesterday. They didn’t hang their heads other than the fact that it was the last game for the seniors.”
AT KARNS CITY
Coudersport (65)
Hayden Keck 8 3-6 19, Brandt Kightlinger 7 1-1 17, Derek Easton 5 2-2 15, Keglovits 3 0-0 8, Furman 2 0-0 5, Kellert 0 1-2 1. Totals: 24 7-13 65
Karns City (67)
Nathan Waltman 9 4-7 22, Chase Beighley 6 4-6 19, Luke Cramer 6 0-0 13, Rupp 4 0-3 8, Sherwin 1 0-0 3, Garing 1 0-0 2. Totals: 28 8-16 67
Coudersport 22 36 46 65
Karns City 12 27 51 67
Three-point goals: Coudy 7 (Easton 3, Keglovits 2, Kightlinger 2, Furman), KC 5 (Beighley 3, Cramer, Sherwin); Total fouls: Coudy 16, KC 15; fouled out: None
CLASS AAA
Saturday’s Championship
1. Brookville 69, 2. Kane 46
BROOKVILLE — Brookville jumped out to an 18-5 lead over Kane in the first and never looked back, winning its third straight District 9 Class AAA title on Saturday.
The Raiders (19-2) had three players finish in double figures. Jace Miner finished with a game-high 22 points, while Danny Lauer recorded 18 and Hunter Geer tallied 13.
“It was tough, Brookville’s super athletic,” Kane head coach Caleb Landmesser said. “We wanted to limit dribble penetration which we did OK, not great at and what that does is we’re athletic enough to get back to the perimeter and at least contest.”
Brookville drained five treys during the game with Lauer sinking four of them, two of which came in the first quarter.
The Wolves (8-6) fought back in the second quarter by scoring 16 points, but the team didn’t have answers for Brookville’s offense that led by double-digits after each quarter.
Zuke Smith led Kane with 13 points, while Carson Whiteman recorded 10 and Matt DeLuca added nine.
“As far as defense goes, they’re aggressive and so we wanted to get good ball movement, try to fracture the defense a little bit, get them to gamble, which we struggled with a little bit early,” Landmesser said. “Overall, I liked what we were doing. It’s just sometimes, shots fall, sometimes they don’t.”
AT BROOKVILLE
Kane (46)
Zuke Smith 6 1-3 13, Carson Whiteman 4 0-0 10, DeLuca 2 3-4 9, Zuzek 2 0-0 5, Greville 2 0-0 5, Jekielek 1 2-4 4. Totals: 17 6-11 46
Brookville (69)
Jace Miner 9 4-8 22, Danny Lauer 5 4-8 18, Hunter Geer 6 1-2 13, Pete 1 3-4 5, Keth 1 1-2 4, Ruhlman 1 0-0 2, Hetrick 1 0-0 2, Cook 1 0-0 2. Totals: 25 14-26 69
Kane 5 21 29 46
Brookville 18 33 50 69
Three-point goals: Kane 6 (Deluca 2, Whiteman 2, Zuzek, Greville), Brookville 5 (Lauer 4, Keth); Total fouls: Kane 21, Brookville 12; fouled out: Zuzek (Kane)
