KSAC-EAST GIRLS' RACE SEES ANOTHER CHANGE AT THE TOP
Union moves back into first place
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Jan. 31, 2008
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Kelsey Rini had 16 points, 15 rebounds to lead East Forest past Clarion |
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Tina Lipps had 13 points, 13 rebounds in Union's win at North Clarion - Photo by Debbie Arner |
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Ashley Campbell scored 20 points in Karns City's win over Clarion-Limestone - Photo by Dana Madison |
Some of the information for this story was found in the Feb. 1 edition of the Oil
City Derrick
MARIENVILLE – The topsy-turvy race in KSAC-East girls’ division just got a little bit more interesting Thursday night with a young Union squad regaining the upper hand over Clarion in what has become a back-and-forth race the last couple of weeks.
Union (15-7 overall, 12-5 KSAC-East) beat homestanding North Clarion 65-37 Thursday night, while Clarion (13-9, 11-6) was losing to East Forest 47-42. That gives the Golden Damsels a one-game lead over the Lady Cats with two games left to play.
Union, which held the top spot in the KSAC-East for most of the season, lost that spot when it fell at Clarion 51-39 last Friday leaving the teams in a tie for first-place but Clarion holding the tiebreaker edge thanks to a sweep of Union.
But the Lady Cats lost their opportunity to control their own destiny when they lost a 6-point lead going to the fourth quarter at East Forest Thursday.
Clarion led 35-29 going to the final eight minutes on the Lady Bears home court, but East Forest came storming back in the fourth quarter ending the game on an 18-7 run to improve to 11-10 overall and 9-8 KSAC-East. The victory secures a playoff berth for East Forest, which got 16 points and 15 rebounds from Kelsey Rini and 12 points from Alicia Ponegalek.
Chrissy Kriebel had 15 points for Clarion with Erin Bean chipping in with 13.
Meanwhile, 12 miles down the road, just outside of Leeper, Union was making quick work of North Clarion outscoring the She-Wolves 23-9 in the first quarter and 42-11 in the first half.
Freshman Tina Lipps continued her strong play with 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Torri Smith led the Golden Damsels with 17 points while adding five assists, and Brooke Pollock had 12 points. Union played without Courtney Frederick, who missed the game with an injury.
North Clarion (5-17, 4-13) got 11 points each from Karlee Cyphert and Jess Tarr.
Union can clinch its second straight KSAC East title with wins over Rocky Grove at home Tuesday and at East Forest Thursday.
Clarion, meanwhile, needs Union to lose at least one of those games while winning its final two at home Tuesday against North Clarion and at Karns City Thursday.
Karns City, meanwhile, a 60-47 winner over Clarion-Limestone Thursday behind 20 points from Ashley Campbell, remains alive, albeit on life-support, for the East crown as well. The Lady Gremlins (13-9, 12-7) would need to win its final two games – at Redbank Valley Tuesday; home to Clarion Thursday, while Union loses its final two contests and Clarion beats North Clarion Tuesday creating a three-way first-place tie between the three schools. Karns City, even then, depending on what the KSAC tiebreaker is, Karns City might still not be able to win the crown. The Lady Gremlins lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with Union after being swept by the Damsels this year, while Karns City and Clarion would have split the season series at that point.
The winner of the KSAC-East will meet Keystone, the KSAC-West champion, in the KSAC title game Feb. 9 at a site and time to be determined. Keystone lost to Union in last year’s KSAC Championship tilt, the first in the history of the conference.