NORTH CLARION 41, WEST FOREST 38

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North Clarion hands West Forest first loss of the season

Jan. 30, 2009

Jess Tarr had a game-high 20 points for North Clarion

Jamie Zacherl drives toward the hoop on her way to two of her 13 points for North Clarion Friday night. Photo by Eric Elliott

Some of the information for this story was found in the Jan. 31 Oil City Derrick

TIONESTA – After flirting with danger in its last two games, both overtime wins, West Forest’s perfect-season luck ran out Friday night, as the top-ranked Lady Indians shot just 14.5 percent from the field in an upset 41-38 loss to North Clarion.

West Forest (16-1 overall, 13-1 KSAC-North), which hit just 10 of 69 shots, all of a sudden finds itself in a dogfight for the KSAC-North title with Cranberry (15-3, 12-2) with the teams slated to meet at West Forest Feb. 9.

Meanwhile, for North Clarion (12-5, 11-4) it is the second big dog the She-Wolves have knocked off in KSAC-North play in the last two weeks. North Clarion toppled Cranberry 53-47 Jan. 21, and the She-Wolves have now won 7 of 8 games while clinching their first winning regular season since going 12-10 in the regular season in 2000. North Clarion, will be going back to the District 9 Playoffs for the first time since that 2000 season, has at the very least six more tries – including a playoff game – to reach 13 wins for the first time since going 15-11 in 1996.

Jess Tarr played the key role for North Clarion in the victory scoring 20 points.

North Clarion led 37-26 early in the fourth quarter but had to withstand a 12-2 run by West Forest that cut the lead to 39-38 on a long 3-pointer by Geena Sneeringer with just under a minute to play.

But an easy layup after breaking the West Forest press put the She-Wolves ahead 41-38, and Alyssa Dreihaup’s potential game-tying 3-pointer rimmed out on West Forest’s next possession. North Clarion, which had only been fouled four times in the second half, was then able to run out the clock before West Forest could put the She-Wolves at the line.

Jamie Zacherl added 13 points for North Clarion, while Sneeringer led West Forest with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Dreihaup added nine points and 12 caroms.

NOTES – West Forest was the last District 9 team to lose this season. They are still one of only two one-loss girls’ teams in D9. Elk County Catholic is the other … North Clarion will have a chance for that elusive 13th win Monday at Sheffield … The loss broke a 22-game regular-season win streak for West Forest and a 20-game home winning streak. The Lady Indians are still 48-11 at home since entering District 9 in 2005.