Girard pulls away with clutch free throws

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February 27, 2010

By Matthew Digiacomo The Meadville Tribune Sat Feb 27, 2010, 11:04 PM EST

EDINBORO — Last night’s District 10 Class AA quarterfinal showdown between Linesville and Girard at General McLane High School came down to one run, and the Lions never got it.

The YellowJackets were never able to put Linesville away, holding a five-point lead for most of the game. One good spurt for the Lions and the outcome could have been different. Instead, it was Girard that closed the game by hitting six straight free throws to capture a 41-30 win and move on to the D-10 semifinals.

“I am happy with the first 38 minutes,” said Girard. “And I can’t be to critical of the final two minutes. That is just the way things turned out.”

Linesville was stellar from the start.

Amber Litwiler hit two quick baskets to give the Lions a 4-0 lead. Girard (17-5) countered with a pair of 3-pointers from Aubree Fails and the stanza ended with the Jackets ahead 7-5.

The second and third quarters pretty much followed the same script and Girard had a 26-21 lead with eight minutes to go.

The problem for the Lions (16-6) was missed opportunities. Costly turnovers thwarted several chances to cut into the lead and, when the Lions did hang onto the ball, they could not get their shooting stroke going. Stevenson attributed much of that to the Girard defense.

“Offensively, we struggled a bit,” said Stevenson. “We didn’t get to fast break a lot either. We did a bit at the end, but we still were not able to capitalize.

“Give (Girard) credit too. We knew their guards were tough. We did what we needed to do defensively, they just didn’t let us get any continuity on offense.”

Still, the game was within striking distance, and Girard helped keep it that way.

The Lions tried to put together a run, but every time they would string together a couple baskets, the YellowJackets seemed to have an answer. The end result was a 35-30 Girard lead with four minutes left to play.

Girard then went into its slowdown offense, milking as much of the clock as possible. The Lions then decided to send the Jackets to the foul line, a strategy that worked early as Girard missed eight of its first nine shots from the charity stripe in the quarter.

Again, however, the Lions could not capitalize.

“We missed a couple bunnies, made a turnover,” said Stevenson. “We battled hard, but it just didn’t fall our way. They are a good team, so I can not be too disappointed. I am proud of the way we played.”

Fails finished with 13 points to lead the YellowJackets, while Chandler Moore added 10.

Lauralee Clements tallied 11 markers to pace the Lions. Amber Litwiler and Jennifer Krider each added eight.

Matthew Digiacomo can be reached at 724-6370, or by e-mail at mdigiacomo@meadvilletribune.com.

GIRARD (41)

Bolt 1 1-1 3, Allen 1 2-6 4, DiFucci 1 0-0 2, Fails 4 2-3 13, Moore 3 3-5 10, Bromley 3 1-3 7, Angerer 1 0-0 2, Drushel 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-18 41.

LINESVILLE (30)

Litwiler 2 4-5 8, Krider 4 0-0 8, Riordan 0 1-2 1, Clements 4 1-2 11, Yocum 1 0-0 2, Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Rossey 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 6-9 30.

Girard 7 10 9 15 — 41

Linesville 5 7 9 9 — 30

3-pt. goals: G — Fails 3, Moore; LV — Clements 2.

Records: Girard 17-5; Linesville 16-6.

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Girard pulls away with clutch free throws

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