Lady Elkers comeback falls short
Two Ridgway threepointers in the final 16.6 of regulation sent the game at Keystone to overtime, but the Lady Panthers hit three foul shots and shut the Lady Elkers out in the extra four minutes to win 29-26.
The loss snapped a three-game win streak for 11-9, Class A Ridgway. The win was the third in a row for 11-8 Class 2A Keystone.
With floor problems on their home court, the Lady Elkers will play their final two regular season games at St. Marys High School. On Friday, they face Brockway and Coudersport on Monday. Keystone game After Jenna Kasmierski's three with 16.6 remaining, Amacher sent the game to overtime with a buzzerbeating trey after the Lady Panthers turned the ball over with illegal inbound play. With 2.3 seconds left, Emma Vargas inbounded to Kasmierski, who found
Amacher open at the top of the key beyond the arc.
In overtime, Mia Traister was 3-4 from the foul line. She hit one of two 54 seconds in and sank two with 1:36 to play. A three-pointer to tie by Kasmierski fell short with 12 seconds remaining. The Lady Elkers got the ball back after a missed one-andone with 4.2 seconds. However, a final three by Kasmierski missed the mark.
“We didn't shoot the ball well and missed a lot of easy ones inside. So, it was an off night there, but I think our defense was pretty good though,” said head coach Jay Schreiber.
Keystone's Natalie Bowser entered the game 20 away from 1,000 career points she was held to seven.
“Kaz had her pretty much shut down,” the coach said.
The Lady Panthers held Kasmierski scoreless until she hit two foul shots with 4:52 left in the first half pulling her team within 10-9. She was 4-4 from the line and hit the late three and one in the third quarter.
Schreiber credited Bowser and Amanda Reyes for their defensive play against Kasmierski, who averaged nearly 24 points over the last four games.
“They are both close to Jenna height-wise, and they did a nice job inside. But unfortunately, it was just a bad night shooting from outside.”
The Lady Elker coach liked how his team came back to send the game to OT; however, he noted the girls seemed to be down at times.
“We had some early body language that I was a little concerned about, whereas at the end, we were focused and doing what we're supposed to, and we were scoring. So, we need to stay in the game and move on to the next play when things don't go right, and I thought we did that at the end.”
Amacher scored nine, Grace Bon three, and Vargas and Sophia Copello two to round out the Ridgway scoring. Kristen Ellenberger had eight steals.
Emma Gruber Keystone with points.
Not having a home gym
Schreiber praised the cooperation between Ridgway and St. Marys for securing facilities moving forward into the playoffs.
“It could have been easy to say, we have our led 10 own stuff, so we definitely appreciate and thank St. Marys and the work our administration did in finding us places to practice and play.”
The coach talked about how his team is coping with the situation.
“Everything's been pretty good, and I've been happy with their attitudes.”
Keystone 29, Ridgway 26
By Quarter Ridgway 6 8 5 7 0 26
Keystone
29 FG-FTM-FTA-Points Ridgway: Kasmierski 2-4-4-10, Amacher 3-12-9, Bon 1-1-2-3, Vargas 1-0-0-2, Copello 1-0-0-2, Ellenberger 0-0-0-0, Totals 8-6-9-26.
Keystone: Gruber 5-0-0-10, Reyes 3-2-58, Bowser 3-1-3-7, Traister 0-4-6-4, Winters 0-0-0-0, Albright 0-0-00, Bell 0-0-0-0, Patrick 0-0-0-0, Manno 0-0-0-0, Totals 11-7-14-29.
Three-pointers: Ridgway 4 – Kasmierski 2, Amacher 2; Keystone 0. 9 6 7 4 3