(Photo: Kait Constantino comes away with a steal during Clarion’s win over Port Allegany. Constantino finished with 26 points. Photo by Kim Constantino) 

The Lady Cats (14-9) trailed 48-43 following a basket by Port Allegany freshman Evin Stauffer with 4:02 to play and things looked bleak when Kait Constantino missed a shot at the 3:28 mark with the rebound going out of bounds to Port Allegany.

Relisten to the game:

But in a full-court press, Payton Simko intercepted a Lady Gators’ pass and fed Constantino, who was fouled taking a 3-pointer with about 3:20 to play by Gracie Archer. Constantino hit all three shots to get Clarion within two, 48-46.

“(Payton) amazes me every day,” Constantino said. “Our defense is so solid. That is what we are best at. We use our speed to our advantage.”

The Simko steal came out of a press that Clarion had trouble executing early in the game.

“We started off there and threw that press to start the game, and it was completely ineffective,” Clarion head coach Roger Walter said. “So, we got out of it. Once that fourth quarter started, we threw on the press right off the bat. It was effective just enough at the end. I think it is the fact of (Port Allegany) being just a little tired at the end, and the anxiety and nervousness picks up at the end where you might make some mistakes.”

Then, after the Lady Cats got a stop on defense, KK Girvin scored and was fouled hitting the free throw to put Clarion ahead, 49-48, for the first time since late in the first half with 3:05 to play.

“We stayed just the right distance behind,” Clarion head coach Roger Walter said. “We’ve been there tons of times all year. So, we weren’t rattled whatsoever. That’s the beauty of this team. Even though we are (mostly) 10th graders, they understand we can come back. We can handle ourselves.

Girvin then went on to hit 3 of 4 free throws in a 14-second span with just under a minute to play to expand the lead to four, 52-48, before Constantino salted the contest away with four free throws in the final 26.7 seconds.

Constantino led all scorers with 26 points and hit five 3-pointers and hauling down eight rebounds while being named the Hager Paving Player of the Game.

“I knew I was hitting my shots today,” Constantino said. “And the refs weren’t calling too many fouls, so I knew if I could use my outside game I could really use it to my advantage in the inside.”

Watch Constantino’s full postgame interview.

Girvin added 18 points tying her season-high with Jordan Best chipping in eight points and eight rebounds. Simko and Eva Lerch each hauled in six boards with Simko also scoring two points and coming away with that huge steal. Five of Lerch’s rebounds came in the fourth quarter.

Cailey Barnett led Port Allegany (16-7) with 20 points with all 20 coming in the first three quarters including 13 in the first-half helping the Lady Gators take a 28-26 halftime lead. Barnett chipped in six rebounds

Stauffer scored a career-high 15 points while adding six rebounds with Bree Garzel chipping in 11 points to a team-high seven rebounds.

Clarion will take on second-seeded Redbank Valley in the semifinals Wednesday.

REDBANK VALLEY 37, KANE 25

BROCKWAY, Pa. — Limiting Kane to a miserable 6-for-55 shooting performance, Redbank Valley won its first playoff game since 2015 — also against the Lady Wolves — with a 37-25 win at Brockway Area High School in the District 9 Class 2A quarterfinals.

The Lady Bulldogs (17-7), ended a three-game losing streak and lands in Wednesday’s semifinals against KSAC rival Clarion. Kane, the AML champion, had its seven-game winning streak snapped and season ended at 15-10.

Redbank Valley took the lead for good late in the first quarter and led 11-6, then 17-11 at halftime as both teams were awful shooting the ball — the Lady Bulldogs at 6-for-28 and Kane at 4-for-30.

It didn’t get much better for the Lady Bulldogs — they wound up 13-for-60 for the game — but it did get worse for Kane which missed its first 20 shots in the second half.

Madison Foringer’s basket gave the Lady Bulldogs their largest lead at 30-13 less then two minutes into the third quarter. Kane got it back to 10 points in the final minute of regulation before the Lady Bulldogs set the final margin.

Tara Hinderliter led Redbank Valley with 18 points, connecting on 7 of 11 free throws and going 5-for-12 from the field. Foringer scored six points with a game-high 17 rebounds.

Emily Bucheit led Kane with nine points despite missing 17 of 18 shots from the floor. She was 6-for-13 from the foul line. Ainsley Saf scored seven points with nine rebounds. Sarri Swanson collected a team-high 12 rebounds.