ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 65, COUDERSPORT 53
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Feb. 28, 2009 - District 9 Class A Girls' Championship Game
Photo by Paul Burdick
By Chris Rossetti
CLARION – Finally, the monkey is off the back of the Elk County Catholic girls’ basketball team.
The Lady Crusaders, who numerous times over the past decade have had high expectations entering the District 9 playoffs only to fall short of the ultimate goal of a championship, finally won its first title in 20 years with a 65-53 win over defending champion Coudersport Saturday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
“It’s a real nice feeling to finally get our first district title in 20 years,” ECC head coach Ken Pistner said. “We looked at the banner up at our school before we left. We are ecstatic. These girls worked very hard. We overcame adversity from last year (when top-seeded ECC was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Clarion) and came back this year really determined. These kids dedicated themselves to basketball after last year’s playoff loss. They worked really hard over the summer and all year long. They got rewarded for it playing a very good game against a really good Coudersport team.”
ECC (26-1) used terrific shooting (29 of 44, 65.9 percent), a balanced offensive attack (three players were in double figures and five had at least six points), strong inside play (40 points in the paint) and tough defense (held Coudersport (22-3) to 35.4 percent shooting and scored 25 points off 18 Coudersport turnovers) to win its first title since beating Coudersport in 1988-89.
“You aren’t going to lose many games when you shoot 60 percent,” Pistner said. “On the year we shoot about 45 (percent). We moved the ball well against their traps. We knew if we went strong to the hole and made a lot of basket cuts, we would get a lot of easy looks. And sure enough, we did.”
The game was tight through a quarter-and-a-half with ECC holding a 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 25-20 advantage with just over 2:30 to go in the half. But the Lady Crusaders ended the half on a 6-2 run to take a 31-22 halftime lead. ECC then started the second half with an 11-1 run fueled by five points from Bre Grimone to go up 19, 42-26, late in the third quarter.
Coudersport rallied cutting the lead to nine, 52-43, with a 17-10 run, but other than getting with nine again, 59-50, with 2:16 to play the Lady Falcons couldn’t cut the gap farther.
“We held our composure,” Pistner said. “We came down offensively and got really good looks. We got some easy shots late in the game.”
Grimone had big night for ECC scoring 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting while also grabbing six rebounds. Emily Detsch added 16 points and nine rebounds while going 8 of 9 from the field, and Kaitlyn Geci chipped in 11 points and six assists. Kirstie Pistner added nine points, four helpers and three steals.
Karli Duffee had a big game for Coudersport with 19 points and five rebounds. Delanie Cowburn added 11 points as did Tori Brown, and Jenna Matzinger chipped in with 10 tallies and six rebounds. But ECC held Kayla Bohn to no points on 0 of 7 shootings, although Bohn did have five rebounds and three steals.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 65, COUDERSPORT 53
Score by Quarters
Coudersport................... 13 9 12 19 - 53
Elk
COUDERSPORT – 53
DUFFEE, Karli 6-12 4-7 19; COWBURN, Delanie 3-7 3-6 11; BROWN, Tori 4-9 0-1 11; MATZINGER, Jenna 3-6 2-2 10; KELLEY, Stephanie 1-4 0-0 2; BOHN, Kayla 0-7 0-2 0; FINK, Hannah 0-2 0-2 0; McCUSKER, Maureen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 9-20 53.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 65
GRIMONE, Bre 9-11 1-1 19; DETSCH, Emily 8-9 0-1 16; GECI, Kaitlyn 5-9 0-0 11; PISTNER, Kirstie 3-9 3-3 9; SALTER, Abbey 3-4 0-0 6; CARNOVALE, Karly 1-2 0-0 3; LEVENDUSKI, Sandy 0-0 1-2 1; HUNTER; Alyssa 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-44 5-7 65.
3-point goals-Coudersport 10-22 (BROWN, Tori 3-6; DUFFEE, Karli 3-7; MATZINGER, Jenna 2-2; COWBURN, Delanie 2-3; BOHN, Kayla 0-4), Elk County Catholic 2-4 (CARNOVALE, Karly 1-2; GECI, Kaitlyn 1-2).
Rebounds-Coudersport 25 (MATZINGER, Jenna 6), Elk County Catholic 27 (DETSCH, Emily 9).
Assists-Coudersport 8 (COWBURN, Delanie 4),