(Photo: Emily Lauer was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game after scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for Keystone)

Relisten to the game:

The Lady Panthers (7-4) led by just three, 23-20, at halftime after a first half that saw the two teams combine to shoot 16 of 60 from the floor but outscored the Golden Damsels 31-11 in the second half thanks in large part to a 23-point fourth quarter.

Keystone’s defense limited Union (6-5) to 10 made baskets on the night — the Golden Damsels shot 20 percent (10 of 50) from the floor — while also causing 23 turnovers.

“I think the girls bought into the game plan on defense,” Keystone head coach Josh Almes said.

The Lady Panthers were especially strong in the second half when they limited Union star Dominika Logue to three points — the three came on an old-school 3-point play with just 1:26 to go off an offensive rebound — and limited the Golden Damsels to just four made baskets while holding them without a point in the third quarter until there was 1.6 seconds left in the quarter.

“I give my hats off to Dominika,” Almes said. “She played a great, great first half (Logue scored 11 of her 13 points before halftime) and really made us think about X’s and O’s there. She’s a great player but I was, I was very impressed with the way Danae Hurrelbrink guarded her.”

Union head coach Ally Kepple said it was just one of her nights for her team, which had a tough week going 0-3 during the week.

“It was just one of those nights where it just wasn’t falling for us,” Kepple said. “With being young, we need to recognize that and try to find other ways to score.”

Kepple said while her players recognized what Keystone was doing to take away Logue in the second half, they need to be better at doing some things to get their best player open.

“We need to set some more screens and use that off of that,” Kepple said. “We were trying to drive and get there, and that’s our ultimate goal.”

Emily Lauer had a big game for Keystone finishing with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds while scoring eight fourth-quarter points.

Lauer, who was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game, said there really weren’t any big adjustments made at halftime.

“Whenever we were in the locker room, we just knew they were coming hard at us,” Lauer said. “We just knew we had to come up with something and play our hears out in order to get that gap between us. That’s just what we did. We wanted to the game. So we went at it.”

The real difference in the second half was simply the fact Keystone’s shots started to fall, especially in the fourth quarter.

After hitting just 13 of 49 shots through three quarters of play, the Lady Panthers connected on 11 of 16 field goals in the fourth quarter.

“We have had games where we have been off before,” Lauer said. “We just know that we have to have the confidence to keep shooting. I think everyone of us just knew that we could do it. We just have to focus on it. That’s what we did.”

Watch Lauer’s full postgame interview.

Almes said it was just a matter of his team continuing to shoot the basketball.

“Shooters shoot,” Almes said. “Just keep shooting. They’ll, fall eventually. We just try to put ourselves in a position where we can use patience and discipline to try to get a good look at the basket and if it goes it goes, if it doesn’t, we don’t worry about and just try again on the next play.”

Trailing or tied for a good portion of the second quarter, Keystone took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Alyssa Dunlap with 1:07 to play in the first half. The triple gave the Lady Panthers the 23-20 halftime lead.

Hurrelbrink and Jozee Weaver then each hi third-quarter 3-pointers before Hurrelbrink put home an offensive rebound with 1:54 left in the quarter to push the lead to 31-20.

Union finally got on the board in the second half when Keira Croyle got a layup with just 1.6 seconds to play to cut the deficit to nine.

Union still looked like it might have a chance when Croyle scored again 43 seconds into the fourth quarter to again get the Golden Damsels within nine, 33-24.

But Keystone answered with a 9-1 run that saw Hurrelbrink scored three points and Weaver, Alyssa Dunlap and Lauer also score to pus the lead to a game-high at the time 17 points, 42-25.

Hurrelbrink, Weaver and Natalie Bowser all just missed double-doubles for Keystone with Hurrelbrink scoring 10 points and adding nine rebounds, Weaver scoring nine points and pulling down nine boards and Bowser scoring eight points to go with 11 boards.

Keystone outrebounded Union 54-30 including 26-11 on the offensive glass where Lauer collected seven of her rebounds, Bowser six of hers and Hurrelbrink and Weaver five each.

Logue’s 14 points paced Union, and she chipped in six rebounds. Croyle added six points, and Tori Milliron had six rebounds.

THE COACH AND THE SCRIBE POWERED BY THE REHAB CENTRE

Jess Quinn and Chris Rossetti broke down the game and talked a little District 9 basketball in the Jan. 10 edition of The Coach and The Scribe Powered by the Rebab Centre.

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