Obenrader Shows Again Why She is District 9’s Top Player in North Clarion Win Over A-C Valley

Chris Rossetti

Chris Rossetti

Published January 20, 2018 5:20 am
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FRILLS CORNERS, Pa. (D9Sports) – In the biggest game of the year up to this point for either team, the best player in District 9 led her squad to victory Friday night.

(Photo: Tori Obenrader. The Hager Paving Player of the Game Friday night)

Tori Obenrader battled through an illness and a turned ankle early in the second half to score 27 points and grab 16 rebounds to lift unbeaten North Clarion to a 43-34 win over visiting A-C Valley in a showdown between two of the top Class 1A teams in District 9.

“This is a huge win for us,” Obenrader said. “We knew them not having Liv (Olivia Boocks, who is out for the year with a knee injury) was going to hurt them, but they still played their butts off and it was still a good game.”

Obenrader, who was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game, was at her best in the second half scoring 15 points and hauling down 12 rebounds including scoring eight straight points at one point in the third quarter and then scoring seven of the She-Wolves final nine points in the fourth quarter when North Clarion outscored A-C Valley, 12-6.

“She knew the importance of this game,” North Clarion head coach Terry Dreihaup said. “She knew this was the game. She took the team on her shoulders and said ride with me.”

For a brief few seconds early in the second half, it didn’t look like Obenrader was going to be able to carry her team. After an errant pass 15 seconds in the third quarter, Obenrader was down on the floor clutching the back of her ankle. You could almost hear the hush that fell over the strong crowd at North Clarion High School.

But after a few tense moments, Obenrader limped to the bench and waved away the athletic trainer. And 12 seconds after exiting the contest she was back in the lineup and proceeded to score the eight straight points mentioned before.

“I just tweaked it,” Obenrader said. “I stepped on someone’s foot. It happens all the time. These ankle braces stop something bad from happening.”

Listen to more of what Obenrader had to say about the win.

Dreihaup said his first reaction when Obenrader went down was that her ankle brace cut into her.

“The first thing I thought was she wears ankle braces and sometimes they cut into her a little bit, so I thought maybe that was it,” Dreihaup said. “She definitely turned it. I was taking her out, and she was like don’t take me out. I think that was the best thing for her. I think her ankle would have swelled up and hurt even more if I let her sit. But overall, she played a super game.”

A-C Valley, still adjusting without Boocks, who was hurt last week and had surgery on the knee this week that will keep her out the rest of the season, played back-and-forth with North Clarion for most of the game with the teams exchanging the lead seven times in the middle two quarters with three ties.

But in a game in which neither team shot above 30 percent, A-C Valley was just a little colder from the floor than North Clarion shooting 23.1 percent (12 of 51) compared to the She-Wolves’ 28.3 percent (15 of 53).

“It was like there was a lid of the rim again,” A-C Valley head coach Dave Sherman said. “We have those nights. This was one of those nights.”

After Ellie Thompson, who had a team-high 11 points for A-C Valley, gave the Lady Falcons the lead at 28-27 with 2:39 left in the third quarter, North Clarion took over for good when Gabby Schmader hit two free throws with 2:25 left, and then Mackenzie Bauer nailed a deep two from the far corner that put the She-Wolves ahead 31-28 at the end of three.

The lead quickly grew to six at the start of the fourth when Gabby Carll, playing just her second game since missing three with a concussion, nailed a 3-pointer, her only basket of the game, to put North Clarion up 34-28.

A-C Valley made one final run getting a pair of Kylee Eaton free throws after an offensive rebound and then a Brooke Irwin basket off a Cami McNany pass to cut the North Clarion lead back to two, 34-32.

But Obenrader grabbed one of her three offensive rebounds and finished to get the lead back to four, 36-32, with just under five minutes to play.

The two offenses then struggled over the next couple of minutes with McNany finally ending a two-and-half-minute drought of scoring for either team with a tough basket with 2:22 to go to make it 36-34.

Enter Obenrader again who answered McNany with a basket of her own 21 seconds late then hit 3 of 4 free throws to make it a 41-34 game with 50.6 seconds to play.

“Everyone knew how important this game was,” Dreihaup said. “Our girls wanted it really, really bad. They just felt if they played their game and played good defense that the ending would come to their side, and it did tonight. They are on Cloud Nine, but we take it one game at a time. We are looking toward Keystone on Monday.”

CHRIS’ THOUGHTS

1. Yikes, those were a few tense seconds when Obenrader went down.

Don’t lie. If you were at the game or listening to our broadcast and are a North Clarion fan, your heart jumped into your throat when Obenrader went down and was grabbing the back of her ankle. This is a special team for the She-Wolves. Perhaps a little bit of a surprise considering the amount of talent surrounding Obenrader that had to be replaced going into this season. But this team is gelling, more on that later, and the last thing it needs is for its superstar to even be a little bit hurt. Obenrader is having another season for the ages averaging 24.5 points and 15.4 rebounds per game. She isn’t a player you replace. Not even with a group of players. But thankfully, for not only North Clarion and its fans but for all of District 9 and perhaps even the state, she was right back at it a few seconds after the injury, and despite limping around for a bit was as effective as always.

“I just wasn’t focused on it,” Obenrader said when asked how she was able to play through the pain she was in. “I was meant to play the game, so I kept going.”

2. Was it good defense or poor shooting?

With the two teams combining to shoot 27 of 105 (25.7 percent) was it bad shooting or good defense?

When asked, the coaches were quick to point to each team’s defense.

“I attributed this to a huge defensive game for both teams,” Dreihaup said. “We are averaging 60 something points a game (61.3 heading into the game) and they held us to 43. I don’t know what they are averaging (53.7 heading into the game), but we held them to 34.”

Sherman agreed with Dreihaup.

“Both teams played a good defensive game,” Sherman said. “I think that is why the shooting wasn’t so great. Again, 43-34, neither team shot the ball well tonight, but I think that is a testament to the defense that was played tonight.”

3. A-C Valley needs to figure out how to combat a zone.

In each of the Lady Falcons last three losses — to Karns City, Punxsutawney and North Clarion — the theme for the opponents defense has been the same. Pack it in and try to limit the touches for Thompson and Eaton and make the A-C Valley outside shooters beat you.

Karns City laid out that blueprint a couple of weeks ago, Punxsutawney followed it up and North Clarion did the same thing.

“We plugged the middle up, and we did not let them get the ball in the middle,” Dreihaup said. “The girls just played great defense tonight. Our goal was to keep it out of the middle, and we did that.”

Of course, it helps that all three of those teams have the players inside to accomplish it. But it still means Sherman and the Lady Falcons need to figure out a way to combat it, especially now that Boocks, a solid 3-point shooter, is out.

“I would play a zone (against us) too,” Sherman said. “They pressured as a little bit, but they didn’t really come out and give us fits in that zone. They didn’t extend it a lot.”

Early in the game, with A-C Valley leading a slim lead, it looked like Sherman was going to be content to just hold the ball at midcourt while North Clarion sat in the zone. The stall went on for about a minute or so before Dreihaup had his team come out and pressure the ball some. But that was the only time A-C Valley tried the strategy — one that mind you I am not a fan of but I can see the merit to it if you have the lead and struggle in a zone offense.

“I didn’t want to get into a game where we stand and hold it,” Sherman said as to why he didn’t go back to the strategy.

4. North Clarion’s role players continue to impress.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this season is the development of North Clarion’s role players.

I saw the She-Wolves in their opener against Clearfield and had some serious concerns as to whether they would be able to get enough around Obenrader to have another great season. Then I saw them again just before Christmas against Cranberry and those players had gotten better. Then last week I saw them at Karns City and those players had improved some more, and Friday night, while they didn’t score a ton, those players were part of the reason North Clarion won the game playing like experienced players in a big game.

Give Dreihaup and assistant coach Teri Obenrader, Tori’s mom, credit for that. They are showing an ability to coach and develop players and it is a big reason the She-Wolves are unbeaten.

“Everyone thought we were losing some seniors from last year and we were going to struggle coming out of the gate,” Dreihaup said. “I think more than anything, it’s confidence for them. The sophomores, juniors and one senior, I’m pretty pleased with their effort.”

Tori Obenrader might be more thrilled with her teammates than her coach.

“My teammates still opened things up for me,” Tori Obenrader said. “They (A-C Valley) realized they still had to guard them. It really just set things up for all of us.”

Haley Sherman had perhaps her best game on the boards grabbing nine rebounds, including four offense, and really took over in the second quarter with six rebounds in the quarter.

“That is something she has been working on in practice,” Tori Obenrader said of her younger teammate. “Every game it is getting stronger, and she is doing really well. Going from junior high and being the point guard to being a forward in junior varsity and varsity, she is really stepping up.”

5. Dave Sherman owned a technical foul even if he didn’t need to.

With A-C Valley up 24-21 midway through the third quarter, Dave Sherman was whistled for a technical foul after his player appeared to get clobbered taking a shot.

As the official was running past him Sherman shouted, “That’s a horrible call.” The official glanced back at him as he ran past the bench but didn’t say anything or warn him. Sherman again shouted ‘That’s a horrible call,” and was immediately given a technical foul. In my humble opinion, which granted means very little here, the call was a bit quick. A warning was probably a more appropriate response.

Did the call have an effect on the game?

We will never know. But when a coach gets whistled for a technical foul he or she has to sit on the bench the rest of the game and can’t stand up and coach. Would Sherman standing have helped his team? Who knows.

But I will say this. I give Sherman a lot of credit. After the game, he took ownership of the technical even if maybe he didn’t have to.

“I was on it,” Sherman said. “I thought it was a bad call. I yelled. I wanted to make my point. That is all I am going to say about it.”

Good for Sherman. It does no good for a coach to call out an official even when the official might have been in the wrong. It is a good teaching moment for his players as well.

THE OUTCOME

North Clarion moved to 13-0 on the season. The She-Wolves are one of two unbeaten District 9 teams. Otto-Eldred (12-0) is the other one. It also keeps North Clarion in possession of the top seed in the upcoming District 9 Class 1A playoffs, although with nine regular-season games left anything can happen.

A-C Valley fell to 10-4 and lost for the third time in five outings. It also probably eliminated any thoughts of a top-two seed for the Lady Falcons in the 1A bracket.

THE ROAD AHEAD

A-C Valley travels to Clarion Monday then hosts Clarion-Limestone Wednesday before going to Keystone Friday in a three-game week.

North Clarion also has a three-game slate next week starting with a road game at Keystone Monday then a trip to Redbank Valley Wednesday before hosting Forest Area Friday.

THE RECORD BOOK

Both teams could see their respective school scoring records fall in the next few games.

With 11 points Friday, Thompson is now 26 points shy of tying the school record of 1,265 points set by Hilary McCall in 2002. At her current average of 18.4 points per game, the record could fall Wednesday against C-L.

Obenrader is also closing in on North Clarion’ school record of 1,822 points set by her cousin, Wendy Obenrader (Franty) in 1991. Tori Obenrader needs just 66 points to match her cousin. With Tori Obenrader averaging 24.5 points per game, she could be on target to break the record Friday at home against Forest Area.

NORTH CLARION 43, A-C VALLEY 34

Score by Quarters

A-C Valley 9 7 12 6 — 34
N. Clarion 6 13 12 12 — 43

A-C VALLEY — 34

Cami McNany 3 0-0 8, Kylee Eaton 1 4-4 6, Brooke Irwin 3 0-0 6, Annie Viertel 1 0-0 3, Ellie Thompson 4 3-5 11, Allison Sherman 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7-9 34.

NORTH CLARION — 43

Cierah Manross 1 0-0 2, Gabby Schmader 1 2-2 5, Gabby Carll 1 0-0 3, Abby Gatesman 0 2-2 2, Tori Obenrader 10 6-9 27, Mackenzie Bauer 2 0-0 4, Haley Sherman 0 0-2 0. Totals 15 10-17 43.

Three-pointers: A-C Valley 3 (McNany 2, Viertel). North Clarion 3 (Schmader, Carll, Obenrader)

Rebounding: A-C Valley — 11 offensive, 24 defensive, 35 total (Eaton 9, Irwin 8, McNany 7). North Clarion — 16 offensive, 30 defensive, 46 total (Obenrader 16, Sherman 9, Gatesman 7).

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