North Clarion Girls Down to Final Eight in State After Win Over Cornell

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. (D9Sports) — From never winning a district title to being three wins from a state title.

(Photo: Tori Obenrader picked up another Hager Paving Player of the Game Award Thursday night)

That is what it has become for the 2017 North Clarion girls’ basketball team after a 68-58 win over WPIAL runner-up Cornell in the second round of the PIAA Class 1A playoffs Thursday night at Slippery Rock University’s Morrow Field House.

“They are in there screaming ‘Elite Eight, Elite Eight,’” North Clarion head coach Terry Dreihaup said after exiting the victorious locker room. “What can you say? We started out saying there were 32 (teams) let’s make it 16. And I said let’s make it eight. They played a heck of a game tonight, every single one of them.”

A pair of runs — one in the second quarter and one in the third quarter — allowed North Clarion (26-2) to take control of the game.

In the second quarter, the She-Wolves used an 8-0 run that started with an Abby Gatesman 3-pointer and continued with an old-school 3-point play and then another basket from Tori Obenrader, who had a monster game with 37 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots and two steals while shooting 60 percent from the field, to grab a 24-13 lead with 1:18 to go before the half.

“My teammates were able to open things up for me, and I was able to score a lot,” Obenrader said in her usual humble way. “I got a lot of foul shots, and I was able to make them.”