ST. MARYS — With seconds left in the first game of the 2019 Elk County Holiday Basketball Tournament, Ridgway sophomore Payton Delhunty stole the ball from the Lady Crusaders in the backcourt and hit the diving Gabbi Rohr who sunk the game winning layup as time expired in the contest. The Lady Elkers secured an opening round victory 32-30.
Ridgway used a first quarter buzzer beater by Christina Fullem to take control after one quarter, 5-4. It was a classic patient offense sort of game for each side, and it was a sloppy start as the Lady Crusaders and Lady Elkers combined for ten first quarter turnovers.
Elk County Catholic (4-2) responded in the second quarter as Taylor Newton scored four of the seven ECC second quarter points to help the Lady Crusaders take an 11-10 lead into the intermission.
Ridgway (5-1) responded with a quick 6-0 run to being the second half. Quick baskets from Fullem, Rohr, and forward Julie Peterson helped the Lady Elkers go ahead 16-11 before an ECC timeout was called. Despite the 6-0 run, ECC responded with a 10-4 stretch to close the quarter and regain a one point margin. Senior forward Ellie Fledderman scored all four of her points in the third period to help ECC maintain the slim margin.
Six fourth quarter fouls by ECC to Ridgway’s three made a huge difference in the game as the Lady Elkers began running a trap press which helped the Lady Elkers who trailed by as much as five points in the fourth quarter crawl back into the game. Clutch free throws by Julie Peterson, senior guard Lindsay Steis, and a game tying free throw with 7.3 seconds by Rohr helped the Lady Elkers knot the game at 30 all with just seconds to play.
Taylor Newton gave Ridgway all they could handle in the fourth quarter as she accounted for all nine of Elk County Catholic’s fourth quarter points. The recent one thousand point scorer led all scorers with 20 points for the game.
After the game, first year Lady Elkers Head Coach and Bradford Area High School graduate John Bennardi praised his team for their effort throughout the hard fought game.
“These girls want to be coached and they get an A-plus for effort today,” he said. “I do not think it is easy to play for me, but the way we are paying right now with the hustle, drive, and heart, I cannot say enough about them. It has been a joy to coach them all so far this season.
“Our senior leadership has been tremendous and our young players and bench has done a nice job so far this season, too. We need to control what we can control, play our game which involves taking care of the ball better than what we did in the first quarter here today. If we do those things, we will continue to be successful.”
The game featured just thirteen players checking into the contest despite foul trouble from the Lady Elkers. Ridgway was without Rohr for most of the first half as the senior picked up three first quarter fouls and was forced to sit for the remainder of the first half. Ridgway forward Christina Fullem missed most of the third and fourth quarter as she was in foul trouble with a total of four fouls. Despite this, Ridgway rallied around patient offense, a late fourth quarter press, and terrific minutes from sophomore forward Carli Thomas to help the Lady Elkers who were in tremendous foul trouble.
The Lady Elkers won their first Elk County Holiday Tournament game in eight years, previously losing 16 consecutive games in the tournament. They will look to win their first Holiday Tournament this decade tomorrow evening where they will take on St. Marys at 6:30.
The Lady Dutch topped Johnsonburg 49-10 in the game’s other first round matchup.
The Lady Crusaders will square off against the Ramettes at 3:30 p.m.
AT ST. MARYS
Ridgway (32)
Gabbi Rohr 4 4-10 12, Fullem 4 0-0 9, Peterson 2 2-2 6, Thomas 1 1-3 3, Steis 0 2-2 2 Totals: 11 9-17 32
Elk Catholic (30)
Taylor Newton 8 4-8 20, Bauer 1 0-0 2, Fledderman 2 0-0 4, Geci 1 2-5 4 Totals: 12 6-13 30
Ridgway 4 11 21 30
Elk CC 5 10 20 32
Three-point goals: Ridgway 1 (Fullem), ECC 0; Total fouls: Ridgway 13, ECC 15; fouled out: None
