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Lancer girls hold off Defenders in final minute

Warrior Run knew it had to make a basket with 19.8 seconds remaining. Coach Jason Mc­Cormick wanted his Defender girls to work the ball around and try to get the best possible shot they could trailing by one point.

Coming out of the timeout, the Defenders did that and worked it around. Maddie Beyer eventually got a look and tried a nice jumper with about two seconds to play, but it got tipped out of bounds.

While the Defenders did get one last chance, there was only .1 seconds remaining on the scoreboard and no chance for a shot. It was enough of a defensive effort from Loyalsock late to stave off a Defender win and escape CI’s Gymnasium at Loyalsock with an exciting 32-31 victory in the first round of the District 4 Class AAA girls basketball playoffs.

Loyalsock faces Mount Car­mel — a 64-20 winner over Wya­lusing — next at a time and place to be determined.

“We tried to get good possession and they scrambled us a little bit and I think we just got a little bit out of whack there for a little bit and got a shot, got second one there because of the tip,” McCormick said. “Tried to work something through to our bigs, just couldn’t get there.”

The Defenders (14-9) took a lead off a steal and jumper by Beyer with 2:43 to play to go ahead, 31-29. Sarah Van Fleet then hit a free throw and shot in a 12-second span to put the Lan­cers ahead, 32-31, with 2:10 left.

After a Warrior Run travel turned it over with 45 seconds remaining, Loyalsock missed a free throw, allowing Madi Welliver to grab the defensive board and give Warrior Run another chance. But Loyalsock did just enough defensively to keep Warrior Run from getting an easy shot, as the Defenders missed two shots in the final 43 seconds before time ran out.

“I called a timeout there and said ‘I wasn’t lying to you, you have 14 seconds. It’s in your hands to make one defensive stop.’ You make one defensive stop, get a rebound, you make free throws, the game’s over,” Loyalsock coach Curtis Jacobson said. “So they dug deep and made one more play, so that was nice.”

The highest Loyalsock ever led by was four points early in the second quarter when Juliana Cruz hit two free throws to put the Lancers ahead, 11-7. Warrior Run then closed out the second quarter with a 3-point lead three times, thanks to an 8-0 run to close the quarter out by Welliver.

Welliver ended with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds, nine of which were on the defensive end. Welliver also added a block. Warrior Run junior Megan Zimmerman came up just shy of a double-double, grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring nine points.

“I thought they executed very, very well. They are a miserable team to prepare for. You just can’t prepare. I don’t have any practice players that are 6 feet tall,” Jacobson said, referring to Welliver and Zimmerman. “You can’t prepare for it. I thought they executed things very well and down the stretch we were able to make one more play, one more layup.”

Loyalsock was led by Van Fleet’s eight points and Maddie Fox added seven. Sam Stopper led the Lancers off the glass with a team-high 11 rebounds and also had three steals. Juliana Cruz scored five points.

“I’m very happy with our effort, not the outcome of course, but happy with how we played until the end,” McCormick said.

Warrior Run only led twice in the second half, off a shot by Zimmerman with 4:42 to play to make it a 24-23 lead and then Beyer’s steal and jumper late to make it a 31-29 lead with 2:43 remaining.

Van Fleet played solid down the stretch, scoring six of her eight points in the third and fourth quarters.

Warrior Run (31)

Taylor Williams 0 0-0 0; Maddie Beyer 1 0-0 2; Taylor Coup 1 0-2 2; Hayden Divers 1 1-3 3; Lydia Swanson 0 0-0 0; Madi Welliver 5 1-2 11; Megan Zimmerman 2 5-6 9; Avery Bieber 2 0-0 2. Totals 12 7-13 31.

Loyalsock (32)

Elizabeth Haller 1 0-0 2; Bryssa Dunkleberger 0 0-0 0; Juliana Cruz 1 2-3 5; Lauren Rude 0 0-0 0; Charlotte Neylon 2 0-0 4; Maddie Fox 2 2-5 7; Cassie Kuhns 1 0-2 2; Sam Stopper 1 2-3 4; Sarah Van Fleet 3 2-4 8. Totals 11 8-17 32.

Warrior Run 7 13 7 4 — 31

Loyalsock 9 8 12 3 — 32

3-point goals: Warrior Run 0, Loyalsock 2 (Cruz 1, Fox 1).

Records: Warrior Run (14-9), Loyalsock (15-8).

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