Sankey’s Big Night Help Moniteau Reach D9 Class 2A Title Game; Otto-Eldred, Elk County Catholic Win, Will Meet in Class A Final

Mike Kilroy

Mike Kilroy

Published March 1, 2023 5:18 am
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BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — It was the type of game Kendall Sankey knew she had in her.

And, it came out at one of the best possible times.

Sankey, a junior forward on the Moniteau girls’ basketball team, had a monster game with 18 points and 13 rebounds as the Warriors downed Coudersport, 50-38, in the District 9 Class 2A semifinals on Tuesday night at Brockway High School.

“It was super nice, especially because some of those girls were my size and Davina (Pry’s) size,” Sankey said. “We had to be active on the boards and be able to go up strong with the ball. I think that was one of our strong suits.”

It was also a refreshing game for Moniteau as a whole. The Warriors entered the playoffs losing three of their final four regular season games.

But Moniteau had some time off and used it wisely.

“It was very satisfying,” Sankey said. “We’ve kind of been in a slump lately and we went into this game not wanting it to be our last game. We played really hard and I think it was a really good team win.”

Moniteau had to hold off Coudersport first.

The Warriors led 32-18 after three quarters, but the Falcons rallied with a 15-4 run to trim the lead to three at 36-33 midway through the fourth quarter.

Moniteau, though, closed the game with a 17-5 run to advance to the 2A title game, where it will meet Redbank Valley at PennWest Clarion on Saturday at a time to be determined.

This will be the fourth meeting between Moniteau and Redbank, which won the first three.

It will also be the third time the two teams will have played in a span of 22 days.

“It’s the third time in like a month, so we really do want to have some redemption against them,” Sankey said. “We might be the underdog, but we know how to play basketball and if we can work as a team, we can do really well.”

The first time Moniteau played Redbank all the way back on Dec. 16, the Warriors led for most of the game before falling by two points.

The other two meetings were not quite as close.

“We need to take what we did in the first game and then learn from our mistakes from the second and third games,” Sankey said. “I think that’s definitely going to help us because in the second and third games, we had a lot of unforced turnovers and we were just having off nights. If we can play like we did in the first game against them, then we have a really good chance.”

No matter what happens, Moniteau is in the PIAA playoffs. The two teams from Class 2A advance to the state tournament.

Allie Pry added 13 points and Catherine Kelly 11 in the Moniteau’s win over Coudersport.

Emma Chambers scored 13 points and Sierra Myers pitched in 12 for the Falcons.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 51, NORTH CLARION 31

Lucy Klawuhn scored 15 points as the Crusaders shook off a slow start to down the Wolves in a Class A semifinal clash.

ECC trailed 12-9 after the first quarter but roared ahead 25-17 at the half.

That lead increased to 39-25 at the end of three quarters.

Maria Bauer led North Clarion with 10 points.

ECC will take on Otto-Eldred on Saturday at Tippin Gym for the Class A title.

North Clarion will play DuBois Central Catholic on Thursday at a site and time to be determined to decide the third seed out of D9 for the PIAA playoffs.

OTTO-ELDRED 61, DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 40

Katie Sheeler poured in 32 points to lead the Terrors to a win over the Cardinals in a Class A semifinal.

Anna Merry pitched in 19 for Otto-Eldred.

Sheeler scored 10 of her points in the first quarter to help the Terrors get out to a 20-9 lead. She scored 11 more in the second quarter as Otto-Eldred led 40-19 at the break.

Otto-Eldred will take on Elk County Catholic in the District 9 Class A title game on Saturday at Tippin Gym. Time is still to be determined.

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