FRILLS CORNERS, Pa. (D9Sports) — Down 11 with about four minutes to play, third-seeded Cranberry rallied past sixth-seeded Clarion for a 51-48 win in the District 9 Class 2A quarterfinals at North Clarion High School.
(Photo: Malliah Schreck, Cranberry. Photo by Bob Dunkle)
Down 42-31, Cranberry rallied behind five points each from Malliah Schreck and Maddie Cornelius and four points apiece from Hannah Duncan and Ellie Kahle.
Schreck, who had a game-high 20 points, started the comeback with an old-school 3-point play that cut the lead to eight, 42-34.
But Wendy Beveridge,who tied Schreck for game-high honors with 20 points, put Clarion back ahead 10, 44-34 with a basket.
The Berries, though, followed with a 3-pointer by Cornelius, who came off the bench to score 12 points, including eight in the fourth quarter when she hit a pair of triples, to cut the deficit to 44-37. Cranberry then came up with a turnover, and Duncan scored to make it 44-39.
After another Lady Cats giveaway, Kahle scored to reduce the deficit to three, 44-41. She was fouled and missed the free throw but Duncan collected the rebound and Schreck scored to get Cranberry within one, 44-43.
Beveridge gave Clarion a temporary respite when she hit one of two charity shots to push the lead back to two, 45-43, but Kahle hit two free throws to tie the game at 45, and then Duncan scored to give Cranberry the lead for good, 47-45.
Beveridge was again fouled and made the first free throw to cut the lead to 47-46, but she missed the second and Clarion had to foul Ava Ferringer.
Ferringer made both her free throws to push the lead to 49-46.
Kait Constantino, who added 15 points for Clarion, then got the Lady Cats back within one when she hit a pair of charity shots to make it 49-48, but Cornelius drilled two free throws to set the score at 51-48, and Clarion wasn’t able to get in position to tie the game.
Clarion had taken a nine-point lead, 33-24, after three quarters when it outscored Cranberry, 17-8, in the third quarter following a 16-all halftime tie.
Beveridge hit a pair of third-quarter three for Clarion while Constantino scored seven points in the quarter while going 5 of 5 from the free-throw line in the eight-minute segment. Constantino made just two shots from the floor in the game but was 11 of 15 from the free-throw line.
But behind Cornelius’ eight points and Schreck’s seven in the fourth quarter Cranberry rallied to move into the semifinals where it will face second-seeded Coudersport at a date, time and place to be determined.
CRANBERRY 51, CLARION 48
Score by Quarters
Clarion 9 7 17 15 — 48
Cranberry 7 9 8 27 — 51
CLARION — 48
Kait Constantino 2 11-15 15, KK Girvan 3 0-0 6, Ali Troese 1 1-2 3, Wendy Beveridge 7 4-7 20, Sadie Rudesyle 2 0-0 4. 15 16-24 48.
CRANBERRY — 51
Ellie Kahle 1 2-2 4, Hannah Duncan 3 1-2 7, Ashley Finch 2 0-0 4, Malliah Schreck 8 4-5 20, Ava Ferringer 1 2-2 4, Maddie Cornelius 4 2-2 12, Kaylie Bruce 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-13 51.
Three-pointers: Clarion 2 (Beveridge 2). Cranberry 2 (Cornelius)
