CLARION — Elk County Catholic’s 3-point shooting built a lead.
In Saturday’s District 9 title game, however, it was the Lady Crusaders’ stingy defense that preserved the lead and secured the ECC girls basketball team’s first championship in 12 years. Behind 12 points from Lucy Klawuhn, the top-seeded Lady Crusaders defeated No. 3 Otto-Eldred, 39-28, to become Class A champions.
“It feels good,” ECC coach Ken Pistner said. “We’ve been in the semifinals, and we’ve been in the finals once, but we could never get over the hump. It’s nice to finally do it this year and get another one of those trophies for the trophy case.”
ECC’s defense frustrated the Lady Terrors from the jump. Sami Straub clung tight to O-E’s guards while Tori Newton, Syd Alexander and Emily Mourer dominated the paint.
After Klawuhn hit a pair of early outside shots to give ECC the lead, its defense took over from there. For a team that has prided itself on defense all season, Saturday’s effort at Clarion University’s Tippin Gymnasium was as impressive as any.
“We had great help defense,” Pistner said. “We were jumping to the ball and smothering tonight.”
Klawuhn and Straub spearheaded a first-half scoring effort that gave the Lady Crusaders a six-point lead at the break.
Klawuhn continued to hit big shots in the second half, as her fourth trey put ECC up by nine points in the midst of a 12-0 run in the third quarter. Alexander followed with a 3-pointer of her own soon after, completing a game-changing sequence that saw ECC’s lead grow from six to 18 points.
“(Klawuhn) hit two big three’s to give us a little separation and we just kind of fed off of that,” Pistner said. “Some of those threes, even in the second half when we hit a couple, the inside started to open up more.
“They did a good job defending our high-low early in the game, and then when those threes started to fall, (O-E) started to come out a little bit and made it even more wide open.”
A last-second drive to the lane by Anna Merry ended O-E’s drought just before the end of the stanza, but by then, the damage had been done.
“They’re a really, really good defensive team and they like to clog up the paint,” O-E coach Shawn Gray said. “We were a bit tentative in the first half, which surprised me. We tried to do too much off the dribble, and it just wasn’t us today, especially in the first half.”
Trailing late, O-E tried to shoot its way back into the game, but its shots weren’t falling. By the time the Lady Terrors found a rhythm, they already faced a double-digit deficit.
“(The deficit) made us try to execute on the offensive end a little more, which we didn’t do very well,” Gray said. “Defensively, we tried to speed it up a bit and play full-court press in the second half. They’re such a good team, they have great fundamentals and they’re prepared every time we’ve ever played them.”
After showing its ability to shoot from outside, ECC’s offense went inside out late in the game, finding Mourer, Alexander and company for easy baskets under the rim. O-E had to chase the ball in the final two minutes, and with fouls to give, couldn’t force the possessions it needed to cut into a nine-point hole.
“It just wasn’t our night,” Gray said. “You’ll have days like that.”
The victory marked the second time this season ECC has defeated O-E, as the Lady Crusaders claimed a 50-43 decision on Feb. 7. In the rematch, ECC’s length proved to be a factor, and the Lady Terrors failed to muster enough offense to overcome it.
Sami Straub finished with 11 points for ECC, while Alexander added seven points and Emily Mourer tacked on six. Katie Sheeler led O-E with 12 points.
“A lot of times, you make some shots and it makes everything look good,” Pistner said. “We’re a pretty decent shooting basketball team, so it’s not surprising we hit a few threes.”
Each team will now host a first-round PIAA playoff game Wednesday.
“They knew this year that we beat some good basketball teams along the way,” Pistner said. “We’ll enjoy the moment here (Saturday) and (Sunday), then start looking forward to the first round.”
ECC will host Monessen, District 7’s sixth-place finisher, while O-E will host Bishop Carroll (District 6).
“We’ll be back,” Gray said. “We get to play a home game on Wednesday, and we’re mostly a junior team, so we’ll be right back here next year, hopefully.”
AT CLARION
Otto-Eldred (28)
Merry 2 0-0 4, Close 2 0-0 6, Sheeler 3 4-5 12, Drummond 1 0-2 2, Rhinehart 2 0-0 4. Totals: 8 4-7 28
Elk County
Catholic (39)
Klawuhn 4 0-2 12, Straub 3 3-4 11, Alexander 2 2-2 7, Newton 2 0-0 4, Mourer 3 0-0 6. Totals: 14 5-8 39
Otto-Eldred 2 10 17 28
Elk Catholic 8 16 33 39
Three-point goals: O-E 4 (Close 2, Sheeler 2), ECC 7 (Klawuhn 4, Straub 2, Alexander); Total fouls: O-E 14, ECC 11; fouled out: Sheeler (O-E)
