(Photo: Madison Foringer of Redbank Valley was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game after scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Lady Bulldogs win over Keystone)
Smith’s driving layup with 4:58 to play broke a 38-all tie and started a 10-0 run that gave Redbank Valley a crucial 50-41 win over visiting Keystone to keep the Lady Bulldogs KSAC South title hopes alive.
Relisten to the game:
Redbank Valley (16-4 overall, 7-2 KSAC South) had blown a 14-points, 31-17, halftime lead and found itself tied with Keystone (13-7, 6-3) following an offensive putback by Natalie Bowser with 5:16 to play.
But Smith took matters into her own hands driving the lane and getting fouled — she missed the free throw — to take the momentum back for Redbank Valley.
“I knew that we needed to get ahead and make the game faster,” Smith said. “I just knew they would foul if we drove to the basket, especially since it was late in the game they were getting tired.”
Smith’s basket coupled with some strong defense down the stretch for the Lady Bulldogs allowed them to stay even with Cranberry in the race for the KSAC South title with one divisional game left for both teams.
“It is a very big win for us,” Madison Foringer, who was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game after recording nine points and 10 rebounds for Redbank Valley, said. “It gives us a lot of confidence, and we are going to try to work hard and get another win.”
Redbank Valley, which plays Brockway Wednesday, finishes KSAC South play at Moniteau Friday. A win by the Lady Bulldogs coupled with a Cranberry loss at Keystone Friday or a Berries loss to North Clarion Feb. 12, would give the Lady Bulldogs the KSAC South crown and a rematch with North Clarion in the Feb. 15 KSAC Title Game at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
However, a Redbank Valley loss and a win by Cranberry over Keystone would give the title to the Berries, who could also win the crown by beating Keystone Friday and North Clarion Wednesday regardless of what Redbank Valley does Friday.
“We have two big games to close out the season and get prepared for the District 9 playoffs,” Redbank Valley head coach Chris Edmonds said.
The loss puts Keystone’s KSAC South hopes on life support at best — its possible that there is no path to the KSAC South title for the Lady Panthers, as there there are plenty of other scenarios that could happen that can be seen below, none of which look all that great for Keystone.
The second quarter really turned out to be the difference Tuesday night, as Redbank Valley outscored Keystone 18-8 in the quarter to take the 31-17 halftime advantage.
“I think the rebound differential in the first half was the difference,” Keystone head coach Josh Almes said. “I think it was eight (for us) and 26 (for them) at one point. That’s hard to claw your way back when you know they are getting three or four shot attempts. It just put more and more pressure on each shot you take going forward. But we made our adjustments at halftime, and the momentum swung both ways in the second half.”
Almes wasn’t too far off. Redbank Valley outrebounded Keystone 30-13 in the first half including 16-6 in the second quarter. Fifteen of the Lady Bulldogs rebounds in the opening 16 minutes came on the offensive glass.
Foringer played a big role in that grabbing four offensive rebounds and nine total rebounds in the first half while scoring seven of her points before halftime.
“It felt pretty good to contribute,” the sophomore forward said. “I am happy to help.”
Watch Foringer’s full postgame interview.
Down 14 at the break, Keystone fought back in the third quarter scoring the first seven points of the quarter thanks to five from Maddie Dunlap to get back within seven, 31-24, two minutes into the second half.
Emily Lauer then helped the Lady Panthers cut the deficit to six, 38-32, going to the fourth quarter before two Bowser baskets sandwiched between an Alyssa Dunlap jumped tied the game at 38.
Keystone, though, seemed to run out of steam from the big comeback and never did take the lead.
“I didn’t feel like we were tired,” Almes said. “But I felt like maybe mentally we were trying to do too much, you know, trying to put each shot as a game winning shot and weren’t just playing our comfortable usual game.”
Tara Hinderliter led Redbank Valley with 14 points, Smith added eight points, Alivia Huffman seven and Caylen Rearick six on a pair of 3-pointers for Redbank Valley.
Lauer led Keystone with 12 points and scored eight of those during the Lady Panthers big third quarter that saw them outscored Redbank Valley 15-7 to get back in the game.
Jozee Weaver added eight points, all in the first half for Keystone, while Maddie Dunlap, Alyssa Dunlap and Bowser each scored seven. Bowser also had eight rebounds, including five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.
THE COACH AND THE SCRIBE POWERED BY THE REHAB CENTRE
Jess Quinn (The Coach) and Chris Rossetti (The Scribe) broke down the game on the Feb. 4 edition of The Coach and The Scribe Powered by the Rehab Centre. The Rehab Centre has six locations serving you, including in Clarion, Brookville, and Kittanning. The Rehab Centre, Chiropractors Caring for Health.
BREAKING DOWN THE KSAC SOUTH RACE
With one game left for Redbank Valley, Keystone and Cranberry in the KSAC South with Redbank Valley and Cranberry both at 7-2 and Keystone at 6-3 things are shaping up like this.
Cranberry is at Keystone Friday and Redbank Valley is at Moniteau Friday.
If Cranberry beats Keystone Friday and North Clarion Feb. 12, Cranberry will win the KSAC South regardless of how Redbank Valley fares against Moniteau based on the third tiebreaker in the KSAC’s tie-breaking system — Record vs. the next team in your division after the tied teams. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head with Redbank Valley and Cranberry having split. The second tiebreaker is overall league record in games mandated by the conference. Both teams obviously would have the same record vs. the KSAC South so record vs. the KSAC North would be used. A Cranberry win over North Clarion would leave both teams at 5-1 in mandated games against the KSAC North. The third tiebreaker would then be record vs. the next team in the standings in the division below the tied teams. In this scenario, Keystone would be the third-place team in the division and Cranberry would have swept the Lady Panthers while Redbank Valley has split with them.
If Redbank Valley beats Moniteau Friday and Keystone beats Cranberry then Redbank Valley wins the KSAC South based on having the best conference record
If Redbank Valley beats Moniteau Friday, Cranberry beast Keystone and North Clarion beats Cranberry Feb. 12, then Redbank Valley wins the KSAC South based on the second tiebreaker listed above — record vs. the KSAC North at which point Redbank Valley would be 5-1 and Cranberry 4-2
If Redbank Valley loses to Moniteau and Keystone beats Cranberry that creates a three-way tie for the KSAC South title at 7-3. It is believed that the first thing that would have to happen is that a team or teams from the three tied would have to be eliminated. To do that you use the tie-breaking system but apply it to all three teams. In head-to-head play, the teams would all be 1-1 vs. each other sending it to the second tiebreaker, record vs. the KSAC North. In this scenario, two things could happen. Either Cranberry beats North Clarion or Cranberry loses to North Clarion. If Cranberry beats North Clarion, then all three teams would be tied at 5-1 vs. the KSAC North meaning that you would move into the next tiebreaker, record vs. the next highest team in the division. This then comes down to how Clarion fares vs. Karns City Friday. If Clarion beats Karns City, then the Lady Cats would finish by themselves in fourth place meaning Redbank Valley would win the division based on having beaten Clarion twice while the other two teams have split with Clarion giving Redbank Valley the title. But if Clarion loses to Karns City then a two-way tie for fourth happens between Moniteau and Clarion with those teams having split their season series. When looking at a three-way head-to-head matchup with Moniteau and Clarion, all three teams would have gone 3-1 vs. those two teams. That would most likely then push the first-place tiebreaker into the fifth criteria, record vs. the next common opponent in the KSAC North starting with the first-place team, which is North Clarion. In this scenario, Cranberry would win the tiebreaker because they would have beaten North Clarion while the other two teams lost to North Clarion. Now if Cranberry loses to North Clarion then that would immediately eliminate Cranberry creating a two-way tie between Keystone and Redbank Valley. Things would then go back to the start of the tie-breaker system. The teams split their head-to-head meetings and both would be 5-1 vs. the KSAC North. They would then both be 1-1 vs. Cranberry, which at this point would be considered the third-place team in the division. Now it goes into how they fared vs. the fourth-place team, which again boils down to who finishes in fourth. If Clarion finished fourth by itself, then Redbank Valley wins the tiebreaker. If Moniteau and Clarion tie for fourth then both teams would be 3-1 vs. those teams team most likely pushing the tiebreaker into the other division. In this case, both teams lost to North Clarion and beat the other five teams moving the tiebreaker into the number of total wins (the entire schedule) vs. teams at or above .500. In sticking with the craziness of this scenario, that could go a few different ways. Both teams would have the same number of wins vs. teams at or above .500 if Iroquois, who Redbank Valley played, doesn’t win its final three games AND Harbor Creek, who Keystone played, wins one of its final four games. If Iroquois finishes above .500 or Harbor Creek does not, then Redbank Valley wins that tiebreaker. But if Iroquois finishes below .500 and Harbor Creek finishes above then it goes to the final tiebreaker, the overall winning percentage of all teams played. And honestly, at this point, that is an unknown that would have to be figured out once the entire season is played out.
All of the above, of course, is unofficial and the KSAC could see the tiebreaker falling a different way. The above is based on the best knowledge and research at the time but may not be 100 percent accurate.
REDBANK VALLEY 50, KEYSTONE 41
Score by Quarters
Keystone 9 8 15 9 — 41
Redbank Valley 13 18 7 12 — 50
KEYSTONE — 41
Emily Lauer 5 2-2 12, Maddie Dunlap 2 2-2 7, Alyssa Dunlap 2 3-4 7, Danae Hurrelbrink 0 0-0 0, Jozee Weaver 3 1-2 8, Natalie Bowser 3 1-2 7. Totals 15 9-12 41.
REDBANK VALLEY — 50
Karlee Shoemaker 0 0-0 0, Ryleigh Smathers 0 0-0 0, Emma Huffman 1 0-2 2, Claire Clouse 2 0-1 4, Madison Foringer 4 1-2 9, Tara Hinderliter 3 8-10 14, Lauren Smith 3 1-3 8, Alivia Huffman 2 3-7 7, Caylen Rearick 2 0-0 6, Brooklyn Edmonds 0 0-0 0, Katie Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 13-25 50.
Three-pointers: Keystone 2 (Maddie Dunlap, Weaver). Redbank Valley 3 (Rearick 2, Smith)
NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (D9Sports) — When her team needed a basket, Redbank Valley senior Lauren Smith delivered.
