CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) — North Clarion head coach Terry Dreihaup encourages a team approach to everything his She-Wolves do.
That includes in-game action as well as being willing to speak up if they believe something isn’t working or a different strategy would be beneficial.
And it was two suggestions by North Clarion players that very well may be the reason the She-Wolves rallied from an eight-point third-quarter deficit to knock off A-C Valley, 57-50, and advance to the District 9 Class 1A title game for the first time in school history.
“Michaela Higgins said we needed to go to man-to-man,” Dreihaup, whose team had been playing mainly a 2-3 zone into the third quarter, said. “I think that confused them and slowed them down. We were able to make a run after that.”
The run in question was an 18-5 span that bridged the third and fourth quarters and turned a 33-25 deficit with under four minutes left in the third quarter into a 43-38 lead with 5:18 to play.
A timeout by Dreihaup with 4:06 left following an offensive rebound and putback by A-C Valley’s Ellie Thompson was the catalyst for the run.
“We sat down and told the girls to stop trying to force it,” Dreihaup said. “It was during the timeout that Michaela suggested we switch to the man-to-man.”
Higgins, who seemed to hit a big shot every time North Clarion needed one, hit a 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the third to cut a seven-point, 34-27, A-C Valley lead to four, and Ally Carll and Cassie Wagner followed with baskets to tie the game at 34 by the end of the quarter.
The triple by Higgins was the third time in the game she hit a 3-pointer that kept the She-Wolves within striking distance, one of the reasons she was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game.
Her first three came with five seconds left in the first quarter and kept A-C Valley’s lead at two, 11-9, at the end of the quarter.
Then, with the Lady Falcons ahead 20-13 midway through the second quarter after a 9-2 run, Higgins nailed another three to calm the storm for North Clarion.
Higgins kept up her clutch shooting at the start of the fourth quarter nailing another 3-pointer, this time off an A-C Valley turnover, 28 seconds into the quarter to give North Clarion its first lead of the game, 37-34, a lead it never relinquished.
“She has been doing it all year,” Dreihaup said. “Shooting, defense, getting the ball where we need it to go, she has autonomy to call the play she thinks is going to work. She hit those shots and kept us in the game. If she doesn’t hit them, who knows what happens from there.”
Higgins, who finished with 14 points, needed to step up along with some of her teammates in the second half when A-C Valley tried to take away District 9’s leading scorer Tori Obenrader, holding her to just two second-half baskets, although, thanks to free throws Obenrader still managed 13 second-half points, all in the fourth quarter to finish with 26 points and 18 rebounds.
“We’ve been talking about it all week,” Dreihaup said. “At some point, someone was going to concentrate on stopping Tori and the other girls were going to need to step up. Tonight, they did just that.”
It wasn’t just Higgins, as Ally Carll added nine points and Cassie Wagner eight.
Carll was especially big in the third quarter netting six points including four during the quarter-ending 9-1 run. It was her offensive rebound and putback with 3:38 left in the third that got North Clarion rolling, and her 3-pointer with 5:18 left pushed the lead to five, 43-38.
That three was the third three in the first 2:42 of the fourth quarter for North Clarion, who also got one from Obenrader with 6:21 left off a Carll pass.
“We told them if they were open to take them,” Dreihaup said. “And they did.”
Down five, A-C Valley didn’t go away without a fight.
The Lady Falcons closed the gap to 43-41 when Olivia Boocks, who scored 13 points including seven in the fourth quarter, nailed a 3-pointer with 4:04 left.
North Clarion pushed the lead back to eight twice, the last time at 51-43 after Obenrader hauled down a missed free throw by Carll and then hit two free throws.
But Boocks hit a pair of charity shots on the other end, and after Obenrader missed two free throws, Annie Viertel nailed a three with 42 seconds left to close the gap back to three, 51-48.
Carll then missed two more free throws, but the rebound went out of bounds off of A-C Valley.
Following a timeout by North Clarion with 27 seconds left, Obenrader hit two free throws with 23.1 to go then two more with 17.5 and two more with 7.2 to seal the victory.
Ellie Thompson led A-C Valley with 26 points and five rebounds, but it was again a suggestion from a player that helped North Clarion slow down the A-C Valley junior after she netted 18 first-half points including 11 in the second quarter.
“Abby Gatesman (only a freshman) said they were getting the ball into her behind our 2-3 zone,” Dreihaup said. “Our game plan was to stay in front of her. But Abby suggested that we play behind her. I basically said, that’s a great idea. And she did it.”
North Clarion will play in the D9 title game Saturday against either Northern Potter or Otto-Eldred at Tippin Gym, while A-C Valley moves into the consolation game against the loser of the NoPo/Otto game at 6 p.m. Friday at Kane High School.
NORTH CLARION 57, A-C VALLEY 50
Score by Quarters
A-C Valley 11 14 9 16 — 50
North Clarion 9 12 13 23 — 57
A-C VALLEY — 50
Cami McNany 0 0-0 0, Ellie Thompson 10 6-10 26, Annie Viertel 2 0-0 6, Olivia Boocks 4 2-2 13, Kylee Eaton 2 1-2 5, Allison Sherman 0 0-0 0, Brooke Irwin 0 0-0 0, Madelyn Dittman 0 0-0 0, Emma Fox 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 9-14 50.
NORTH CLARION — 57
Michaela Higgins 4 2-2 14, Cassie Wagner 3 2-2 8, Abby Gatesman 0 0-0 0, Tori Obenrader 7 11-16 26, Ally Carll 4 0-5 9, Gabby Carll 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 15-25 57.
Three-pointers: A-C Valley 5 (Boocks 3, Viertel 2). North Clarion 6 (Higgins 4, Obenrader, Ally Carll).
