ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 47, JOHNSONBURG 36

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Feb. 28, 2009 - District 9 Class AAA Girls' Championship Game

Photo by Paul Burdick

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – St. Marys used a 26-5 run sandwiched between halftime to win its second consecutive District 9 Class AAA title with a 56-28 victory over Clearfield Saturday afternoon at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

“It means a lot to our kids and a lot to our program as a whole,” St. Marys head coach Bob Swanson said. “We started seven years ago to build a program. We wanted to be competitive. We worked hard. We don’t have a lot of kids out. These girls really do put a lot of time into it. It really is a big thing.”

The Lady Dutch (21-2) were leading by just three, 15-12, with 5:38 to go in the first half, and District 9’s best player Kayla Hoohuli was on the bench with three fouls.

But St. Marys decided to put Hoohuli back in the game, and the sophomore responded by scoring five points and dishing an assist to help the Lady Dutch end the half on a 9-1 run to take a 24-13 lead into halftime.

“I had a lot of concerns about putting her back in with three fouls,” Swanson said. “She kept saying she wouldn’t foul, but I told her she wasn’t going in. But we were losing control of the game, and if you get behind you don’t know what’s going to happen. I put her in and let her play. She is a smart enough player, she can figure it out. But if she had picked up that fourth foul before halftime, I don’t know, it won’t have been a good thing at all.”

St. Marys continued its run at the start of the second half thanks to a 3-pointer and a layup from Tia Cunningham that started a 17-4 run that got the Lady Dutch lead up to 24, 41-17, with 2:05 left in the third quarter.

The lead grew to 30, 52-22, midway through the fourth quarter, as St. Marys got its second consecutive blowout win in the District 9 title game. Last year, the Lady Dutch beat Punxsutawney 51-14 for the District 9 Class AAA title, the second largest margin of victory in a girls’ championship game since 1983. The 28-point win Saturday is the seventh largest margin of victory since 1983.

The large margin was a surprise considering in St. Marys’ previous two meetings with Clearfield (13-11), the Lady Dutch won by just four each time.

“I hope no one lets that score deceive them,” Swanson said. “ Clearfield is a very dangerous ball club. Shots weren’t falling for them tonight. I don’t want to be on the court with them when they do. I stayed awake all night worried about this game.” 

The game started out like it was going to be a St. Marys rout with the Lady Dutch scoring the game’s first 10 points while holding a 12-4 lead with 1:26 to go in the first quarter.

But at the 1:26 mark, Hoohuli was whistled for her third foul of the quarter and had to take a seat on the bench.

Clearfield was able to partially take advantage of her absence going on an 8-3 run to cut the deficit to three on a 3-pointer by Jayme Ryan. But Clearfield made just seven baskets in the game’s final 23:28 allowing St. Marys to pull away.

Hoohuli led the Lady Dutch with 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five steals and three blocked shots. Amanda Simbeck added a double-double with 10 points and 18 rebounds, while Megan Herbstritt just missed a double-double scoring nine points and getting 11 rebounds. Cunningham chipped in 10 points.

“Amanda Simbeck having 18 rebounds is huge,” Swanson said. “It was a team effort today. That’s what makes it so impressive.”

St. Marys had a huge advantage on the boards outrebounding Clearfield 64-43 including 29-15 on the offensive glass. The Lady Dutch also scored 24 points off 26 Clearfield turnovers.

Gwenn Porter led Clearfield with eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Both teams move into the PIAA Playoffs with Clearfield playing a preliminary game at midweek and St. Marys playing a first-round contest next weekend.

ST. MARYS 56, CLEARFIELD 28

Score by Quarters

Clearfield....................    5    8    7    8  -   28

St. Marys.....................   12   12   19   13  -   56

CLEARFIELD – 28

PORTER, Gwenn 3-10 2-5 8; BYERLY, Amber 2-9 2-3 6; KOVALICK, Sarah 2-10 0-2 4; SOPIC, Madison 1-6 0-0 3; RYAN, Jayme 1-8 0-0 3; SCHULTZ, Jocelyn 1-1 0-0 2; ZALNO, Lori 0-2 1-2 1; PETERS, Elizabeth 0-2 1-4 1; JANOCKO, Annie 0-4 0-0 0; MOORE, Angela 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 10-55 6-16 28.

ST. MARYS – 56

HOOHULI, Kayla 6-19 3-5 16; CUNNINGHAM, Tia 4-10 0-0 10; SIMBECK, Amanda 2-15 6-10 10; HERBSTRITT, Megan 4-11 1-3 9; HATHORN, Emily 3-8 0-0 6; WALKER, Chelsea 1-2 0-0 2; WALKER, Rachel 1-2 0-0 2; PELGRIN, Gina 0-2 1-4 1; LEVENDUSKI, Leann 0-3 0-0 0; GERARGE, Mandy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-72 11-22 56.

Three-pointers: Clearfield 2-16 (SOPIC, Madison 1-1; RYAN, Jayme 1-7; KOVALICK, Sarah 0-3; JANOCKO, Annie 0-1; MOORE, Angela 0-2; PORTER, Gwenn 0-2), St. Marys 3-16 (CUNNINGHAM, Tia 2-4; HOOHULI, Kayla 1-9; HERBSTRITT, Megan 0-1; SIMBECK, Amanda 0-2).

Fouled out--Clearfield-JANOCKO, Annie, St. Marys-None.

Rebounds-Clearfield 43 (PETERS, Elizabeth 8; PORTER, Gwenn 8), St. Marys 64 (SIMBECK, Amanda 18). Assists-Clearfield 3 (PORTER, Gwenn 3), St. Marys 14 (HOOHULI, Kayla 5).

Total fouls-Clearfield 17, St. Marys 13.