CLARION — Elk County Catholic couldn’t quite complete the comeback, as Union (New Castle), led by nine points each from Kylie Fruehstoffer and Zoe Lepri won 38-35 to advance to the PIAA Class A quarterfinals.
Down 28-10 at halftime, ECC fought back, holding Union to just five points in the third quarter.
Tori Newton had five in the third as ECC finished the period on a 10-2 run to bring the deficit to just 10. In the fourth, Lucy Klawhun and Syd Alexander nailed a triple each to make it 36-31, with ECC down five and 1:46 left to play.
Sami Straub knocked down a pair of free throws but Kelly Cleaver responded with a pair for Union. Newton got an offensive rebound and put the ball in the net to make the score 38-35 in favor of Union with just over seven seconds to go.
Union turned the ball over and with just 2.8 seconds remaining, ECC had one final chance to tie the game up.
Straub inbounded the ball to Klawhun who had a Union defender plastered on her. But Klawhun managed to catch the ball, turn and fire a 3-point attempt that bounced just off the back of the rim.
“We were going to screen and rescreen for (Klawhun),” ECC coach Ken Pistner told D9 and D10 Sports after the game. “We were going to screen for (Alexander) first and rescreen and get (Klawhun) hopefully on a little back screen. That girl fought over the screen pretty hard. We were hoping to get it right about the 3-point line.”
Despite the loss and end to ECC’s season, the future is bright as all five of the Lady Crusader starters are sophomores.
“This game will go a long way towards next year,” Pistner said. “There’s a lot of tears in there. The more you have invested, the harder it is to end. This team has a lot invested. I know this will drive them, motivate them, for next year.”
AT CLARION —
Elk County Catholic (35)
Klawuhn 4 0-0 12, Straub 2 4-4 8, Alexander 3 0-0 8, Newton 3 1-6 7 Totals: 12 5-10 35
Union (New Castle) (38)
Fruehstoffer 2 0-0 6, Fruehstoffer 3 1-3 9, Cleaver 3 2-2 8, Lepri 4 1-2 9, Preuhs 1 0-0 2, Mia Preuhs 2 0-0 4 Totals: 15 4-7 38
ECC 5 10 23 35
Union 17 28 33 38
Three-pointers: ECC 6 (Klawuhn 4, Alexander 2), Union 4 (Kayla Fruehstoffer 2, Kylie Fruehstoffer 2)
