COUDERSPORT 55, CLARION-LIMESTONE 51

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Feb. 27, 2010 - District 9 Class A Girls' Quarterfinals

By Blaise O’Connor

COUDERSPORT – The Coudersport girls’ basketball team is once again in the District 9 Class A semifinals, but it wasn’t easy.

The Lady Falcons (18-6) survived a Clarion-Limestone second-half rally to defeat the Lady Lions 55-51 Saturday in Coudersport and advance to the semifinals for the 10^th straight season while also picking up a 10^th straight berth in the PIAA playoffs.

“Considering we had a serious injury to D.J. Cowburn (torn ACL earlier in the season), our players responded well this year,” Coudersport head coach Brian Green said. “It’s a tribute to them that they will be playing in the PIAA playoffs.”

Third-seeded Coudersport jumped to a 25-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 31-11 early in the second quarter before 11^th-seeded Clarion-Limestone (9-13) began its rally.

The Lady Lions finished the first half with a 12-1 run to cut the Coudersport lead to 32-23 at halftime. Then by the end of the third quarter, C-L shaved the margin to seven 41-34.

“We built the 20-point lead and then became very tight on the floor,” Green said.

C-L would have been closer than seven at the end of three if the Lady Lions had hit some free throws. C-L missed seven free throws in the quarter and was 14-for-33 in the game.

“We lost this game at the foul line,” C-L head coach Gus Simpson said.  

C-L continued to fight back, though, and thanks to the play of Jade Walker, Katie Sayers and Olivia Pinson climbed to within three points, 54-51, with six seconds left. But Jenna Matzinger hit a free throw to ice the win.

Matzinger led Coudersport with 22 points, including some clutch baskets in the fourth quarter that kept the Lady Falcons in front, while adding seven rebounds and six steals. Hannah Fink chipped in 10 points and 10 rebounds. Maureen McCusker also had 10 boards to go with five points.

Walker had a monster game for C-L with 15 points and 22 rebounds including 14 offensive rebounds. Pinson had 12 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Sayers had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while also blocking three shots.  

Coudersport will now face West Forest in the semifinals Tuesday at a time and place to be determined. It is the third straight year the clubs will meet in the postseason. Coudersport beat West Forest for the D9 Class A title in 2008 and then knocked off the Lady Indians in last year’s semifinals.

NOTES – C-L outrebounded Coudersport 54-36 but turned the ball over 29 times to the Lady Falcons 26 … Neither team shot well with C-L hitting on 27.7 percent of its shots (18 of 65) and Coudersport 33.3 percent of its (19 of 57).  

Editor note: Rich Rhoades contributed to this story

COUDERSPORT 55, CLARION-LIMESTONE 51

Score by Quarters

Clarion-Limestone 9 14 11 16 – 51

Coudersport 25 7 9 14 – 55

Clarion-Limestone – 51

Laugand 2 3-4 7, Schirmer 2 1-2 5, Parsons 0 0-0 0, Jade Walker 6 3-10 15, Olivia Pinson 3 6-8 12, Kepler 0 0-2 0, Katie Sayers 4 1-4 10, Champion 1 0-3 2. Totals: 18 14-33 51. 

Coudersport – 55

 Karpinski 2 0-0 4, Morey 0 1-2 1, Kane 0 0-0 0, McCusker 2 1-2 5, Brown 1 1-4 4, Jenna Matzinger 6 10-14 22, Hannah Fink 4 2-6 10, Green 3 0-0 7, Linden 1 0-2 2, Henning 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 15-30  55 .

Three-pointers – C-L 1 (Sayers). Coudersport 2 (Brown, Green).