CRANBERRY 48, WEST FOREST 47

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Feb. 9, 2009

By Chris Rossetti

TIONESTA – Hannah Heeter’s layup with 19 seconds left off a sideline inbounds pass and her subsequent block of a Geena Sneeringer shot in the closing seconds lifted visiting Cranberry to a 48-47 win over West Forest keeping the Berries KSAC-North title hopes alive.

It is believed that Cranberry (17-3 overall, 14-2 KSAC-North) still needs a little help to claim the KSAC-North title over West Forest (19-2, 15-2). To put it simply, according to the KSAC tiebreaking formula that was sent to D9Sports.com last week, if Cranberry beats Clarion-Limestone Tuesday and Venango Catholic Thursday and West Forest beats Clarion Tuesday, the Berries would still need Clarion to lose to East Forest Thursday and Keystone to lose to either Redbank Valley Tuesday or Karns City Thursday. If both Cranberry and West Forest are tied for the KSAC-North crown at 16-2, West Forest wins the fifth tiebreaking criteria (winning percentage vs. teams at or above .500) if either Keystone or Clarion or both finish at .500. Clarion is currently 10-10 with two games left and Keystone is 9-11 with two games left. If neither of those teams finish at .500 and Cranberry and West Forest are both 16-2 in division play, then the KSAC will have to come up with a sixth tiebreaker to decide the winner of the division, who will play the winner of the KSAC-South, most likely Moniteau, in the KSAC Title game Saturday at Clarion High School. Currently, the KSAC tiebreaker only goes five places (see tiebreaker below).

Cranberry earned itself a shot at the KSAC-North title with a come-from-behind victory over West Forest before packed gym at West Forest. The Berries trailed by five, 45-40, with 2:17 to play but went on a 6-0 run to take a 46-45 lead on a Heeter basket with 1:14 to play.

West Forest, though, retook the lead on two free throws by Sneeringer with 1:09 left, and the Lady Indians has ample opportunity to seal the victory after that.

First, Heeter missed two free throws with 54 seconds left, and West Forest got the rebound. But Sneeringer stepped out of bounds in front of the West Forest bench with 44 seconds left giving the ball back to Cranberry.

Heeter then missed two more free throws with 32 seconds left, and Cranberry missed two put back attempts before West Forest came away from the ball. But once again, the Lady Indians turned the ball over by going out of bounds giving the ball back to Cranberry with 22 seconds to play.

“I think just the physicality of the last minute of the basketball game that was allowed to happen was the difference,” West Forest head coach Bob Wachob said. “They have a 6-foot girl and another 5-11 girl and my two 5-7’s were getting pushed around pretty good.”

After a Cranberry timeout, the inbound pass was lobbed from in front of the Berries bench to the other side of the hoop where the 6-foot Heeter, who is five inches taller than any West Forest player, caught the ball and put in the shot without using the backboard.

“It went the way we designed it to go,” Cranberry head coach Chrissy Shumaker said. “We decided we needed to get the ball into Hannah’s hands because she, at this point, at the hot hand. We actually had several options. That one worked out for us. They (West Forest) played a heck of a game. It could have gone either way.”

West Forest still had one last chance, as Sneeringer, the Lady Indians 1,000-point scoring junior, raced up court and tried to draw contact on a layup attempt. But Heeter blocked the shot, and no foul was called as time ran out.

“Hannah took over the game,” Shumaker said. “She grabbed some rebounds, went the length of the floor and either finished or dished.

“These girls don’t quit. From Maggie (O’Neil’s) defense, to Sarah (Lutz) handling the pressure all night long along with her defense on Sneeringer to Chyanne (Shuffstall) battling inside and having an amazing first half …”

While Heeter, who scored eight of Cranberry’s final 10 points and eight of her 10 points in the final 3:39, was taking over the game for the Berries, West Forest’s offense couldn’t buy a bucket. The Lady Indians last made field goal came on a basket by Amanda Carll with 5:56 left that gave them a 39-36 lead. West Forest was able to twice get the lead to five, first at 43-38 and then at 45-40, thanks to six made free throws by Sneeringer, who finished the night with 22 points including going 14 of 16 from the free-throw line. But the Lady Indians also turned the ball over six times in the fourth quarter.

“We weren’t scoring, we were in foul trouble and we had a three-point lead that we got to a five-point lead with the stall,” Wachob said. “We got out of the stall and went back our offense, and that’s when they scored.”  

Turnovers, or more importantly the lack of points West Forest was able to generate from 11 Cranberry turnovers in the third quarter, also played a pivotal role in the outcome.

Leading 26-24 at halftime, the Lady Indians turned up the defensive pressure on the Berries in the third quarter getting the 11 takeaways. But West Forest was only able to turn those 11 turnovers into nine points including failing to score on the first five Cranberry turnovers of the second half. That meant that instead of being up potentially by double digits going to the fourth quarter, the Lady Indians led by just three, 35-32.

“I credit that to our defense,” Shumaker said. “That’s huge. To turn the ball over like that and still be in the game. If you aren’t going to score anything then you better not give up anything. It’s that simple.”

The game started off well for Cranberry with the Berries taking an early 8-2 lead before West Forest cut the gap to 10-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Cranberry still led by four, 12-8, early in the second quarter before West Forest answered with a 9-4 run to take its first lead of the game 17-16 on two Sneeringer free throws with 4:13 left before halftime.

The lead then changed hands two more times with two ties before West Forest went up 26-22 with 56 seconds left in the half. Cranberry, though, got two key points when Lutz was fouled with two seconds to play in the half and hit both of them to cut West Forest’s lead to 26-24.

Cranberry then tied the game at 26 when O’Neil fed Lutz a little under two minutes into the second half, but West Forest answered with a 6-2 run to retake the lead, a lead they held until Heeter’s basket with 1:14 to play.

Shuffstall led Cranberry with 16 points and 14 rebounds including 12 points and nine boards in the first half. Heeter added 10 rebounds, all in the second half, giving her a double-double, while Laura Heineman and Lutz each had eight points.

Sneeringer added seven rebounds, five steals and four assists to her game-high 22 points, while Amanda Carll had 10 points and seven rebounds. Erica Blum chipped in with seven points and five steals, with all five steals coming in the third quarter.

NOTES – Both games this season between Cranberry and West Forest were barnburners. West Forest got a 47-44 win at Cranberry Dec. 23 … West Forest is looking for its first division crown since being the best team in the T.C.A.C Class A in 1992 back in District 10. The Lady Indians were also the bets T.C.A.C Class A squad in 1991 and won the T.C.A.C. in 1988 as well … Cranberry is looking for its first KSAC division or KSAC title since joining the KSAC in 2005 after being a perennial title contender in the T.C.A.C.  

KSAC TIEBREAKING CRITERIA (AS SUBMITTED TO D9SPORTS.COM)

1. Head to Head

2. Division Record

3. Record vs next team in standing (continue through 3rd, 4th, 5th etc..)

4. Record vs first place team in other division

5 . Winning % vs teams at or over .500

CRANBERRY 48, WEST FOREST 47

Score by Quarters

Cranberry 10 14 8 16 – 48

West Forest 8 18 9 12 – 47

Cranberry – 48

Kylie Mason 0 0-0 0, Laura Heineman 4 0-0 8, Lyndsay Burneisen 0 0-0 0, Chyanne Shuffstall 7 2-5 16, Sarah Lutz 3 2-4 8, Maggie O’Neil 2 2-4 6, Kristen Neidich 0 0-0 0, Hannah Heeter 5 0-4 10, Alyssa Craft 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-17 48.

West Forest – 47

Eric Blum 3 0-0 7, Rachel Greathouse 2 0-2 4, Grace Wallace 1 0-2 3, Alyssa Dreihaup 0 1-2 1, Amanda Carll 5 0-0 10, Geena Sneeringer 4 14-16 22. Totals 15 15-22 47.

Three-pointers – West Forest 2 (Blum, Wallace).