CLARION — Elk County Catholic fans experienced a bad case of deja vu Wednesday evening at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gymnasium, as for the second night in a row of their teams built a double-digit lead in the third quarter only to be handed a heartbreaking loss to end its season.
This time around it was the Lady Crusaders who gave WPIAL champion Union Area all it could handle in the second round of the PIAA Class A playoffs, but ECC couldn’t finish off a strong three-quarter performance and came up just a little short in a 39-35 loss.
It was the second year in a row the Lady Scotties handed ECC a heartbreaking defeated in the second round of states, as Union edged the Lady Crusaders 38-35 a season ago in a game also played at Tippin Gymnasium. In that game, it was ECC who tried to mount a valiant comeback as the Lady Crusaders trailed by 18 at the half before having a shot to tie the game at the buzzer in a 3-point loss.
Wednesday’s setback came a night after the ECC boys held a 13-point third-quarter lead against Carlynton only to see the Cougars rally in the fourth for a 49-44 victory.
Like the boys, the Lady Crusaders looked to be in control early in the third as a strong defensive effort had ECC up 12 at 21-9. That proved to be ECC’s largest lead of the night, but Union cut that advantage in half by quarter’s end as a 3-pointer by Mia Preuhs with 2:23 left made it 25-19.
While no one scored the remainder of the quarter, that trey seemed to breathe some life into the Lady Scotties, who promptly made it a 3-point game when Kylie Fruehstorfer drained a trey of her own 22 seconds into the fourth.
Fruehstorfer sparked Union’s fourth-quarter comeback, hitting three 3-pointers in a four-minute span. The third of those long balls put Union up 30-29 with 3:44 to play. Fruehstorfer 10 of her 13 points in the fourth.
The Lady Scotties (20-6) never trailed again as they used a 7-0 spurt to turn a 2-point deficit into a 5-point lead (34-29) with 2:28 remaining. Elk County’s Sydney Alexander ended that run with a pair of free throws to make it a 3-point game.
But, Elk County (24-5) could get no closer as neither team helped its own cause down the stretch at the foul line. Union was was just 4 of 8 at the line in the final 1:16, missing the front end of two one-and-ones, while ECC was 2 of 4 while trying to mount a comeback of its own.
Union’s Kelly Cleaver, who led all players with 14 points, was 2 of 2 in that closing stretch to help seal the win.
Cleaver, Union’s leading scorer at 17.3 ppg, was held to just eight through three quarters before her and Fruehstorfer fueled the Lady Scotties’ comeback with 16 of their 20 fourth-quarter points. Union had scored just 19 total entering the final period, but finally capitalized on a couple ECC turnovers early in the fourth to jump-start its rally.
“They pressured us the whole game with their full-court press,” said CC coach Ken Pistner. “The one thing that happened in the fourth quarter was they started to make a few shots and able to get into their pressure a little more than they were earlier.
“We did turn the ball over and missed a few shots (in the 4th), and we let No. 4 (Fruehstorfer) get loose a little too often. But, she’s a good player. That’s a very good basketball team we played tonight, and we were playing really good basketball and did for three quarters.
“They didn’t really change a whole lot. They ran a 1-3-1 and diamond press, and early I thought we were able to pass out before those traps got to us. Later, we weren’t able to do it was much. The big girl up front (Cleaver) creates some issues and had a long wingspan up on the ball.
The game started as a defensive battle, with both teams also struggling to find their rhythm in a low-scoring opening eight minutes that saw the teams deadlocked at 5-5.
Lucy Klawuhn opened the scoring on a 3-pointer just before the 5-minute mark, while Union didn’t score until the 3:36 mark on a basket by Cleaver. Elk County went back up when Emily Mourer scored inside off an inbounds play, but a 3-pointer by Lady Scottie Bella Cameron in the final minute evened the score.
That seemed to give Union a little momentum going into the second quarter as they used a 4-2 spurt on two hoops by Cleaver to take its its first lead at midway point 9-7.
However, it was all ECC over the final three minutes of the half as it ripped off a 10-0 run to take a 17-9 lead to the break.
Tori Newton got that run started, but those proved to be her only points of the game. Things really turned in ECC’s favor when Klawuhn hit back-to-back 3-pointers, both following offensive rebounds by Emily Mourer, to make it 15-9 before a putback by Mourer set the halftime score.
That duo powered the Lady Crusaders all night long, as each finished with 13 points. Klawuhn hit four 3-pointers, while Mourer posted a double-double with 13 rebounds as well.
Elk County then made it 14 straight points around halftime as Mourer netted the first two baskets of the third quarter to make it 21-9 just over a minute in. However, Union countered with a 10-4 spurt to get back within six by end of the quarter — getting 3-pointers from Fruehstorfer and Preuhs.
Fruehstorfer then really started to heat up from outside tp open the fourth as her three triples tipped the momentun in Union’s favor.
Mourer helped ECC momentarily keep the lead with two buckets of her own, but the Lady Crusders just went cold offensively down the stretch and scored just six points over the final 4:29 after holding its final lead at 29-27.
The ending was another tough one for ECC’s tight-knit starting five — all of whom are juniors in Klawuhn, Mourer, Newton, Sydney Alexander and Sami Straub. That group logged every second of game action on the night.
“It’s a great group of girls, and every coach says this, but they work so hard,” said Pistner of his squad. “They are basketball junkies, and they’re going to get right back at it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few of them in the gym (today).
“Somebody once said the best things about freshmen and sophomores is they eventually become seniors. You can’t gain experience without playing in games likes this. I actually thought we played them (Union) a better game this year than we did last year. I think we’re a better team than we were last year, and this experience is certainly going to help us next year.”
Union moves on to play District 6 champ Williamsburg in the Saturday’s state quarterfinals. The Lady Blue Pirates pulled out a thrilling win of their own Wednesday as they edged DuBois Central Catholic, 48-45, in overtime after scoring in the final seconds to force the extra session.
UNION AREA 39, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 35 Score by Quarters ECC 5 12 8 10 — 35 Union Area 5 4 10 20 — 39 ECC—35Sami Straub 1 1-2 3, Tori Newton 1 0-0 2, Sydney Alexander 1 2-2 4, Lucy Klawuhn 4 1-3 13, Emily Mourer 6 1-2 13. Totals
Union Area—39Kayla Fruehstorfer 0 0-2 0, Kylie Fruehstorfer 4 1-2 13, Kelly Cleaver 6 2-2 14m Zoe Lepri 2 0-2 4, Kendall Preuhs 0 0-0 0, Mia Preuhs 1 2-3 5, Bella Cameron 1 0-0 3. Totals
Three-pointers: ECC 4 (Klawuhn 4), Union 6 (Ky. Fruestorfer 4, M. Preuhs. Cameron).
