Lady Crusaders cruise to win over Clarion in D9 playoff opener
A 14-0 first quarter set the tone for Thursday evening's District 9 1A quarterfinal matchup between the Elk County Catholic Lady Crusaders and Clarion Area Lady Bobcats.
Emily Mourer and Sydney Alexander combined for 30 of ECC's 47 points, with each leading all scorers with 15. Tori Newton, Lucy Klawuhn, and Kiri Emmert did the remainder of the scoring for ECC.
Sophie Babington led Clarion with 13 points.
Alexander scored the first point of the night from the foul line for ECC, and then she and Mourer each made a bucket. With 4:36 left in the quarter, Mourer had a chance at a threepoint play but missed the foul shot. However, ECC ended up coming up with two points as a result as Alexander snagged the rebound and was fouled. She made both shots from the line to put ECC up 9-0.
Klawuhn hit a three just past the midpoint of the quarter and then Newton added a bucket with 1:17 remaining to make the score 14-0 in ECC's favor at the end of the first eight minutes of play.
Clarion finally got on the board 12 seconds into the second quarter as Natalie Durish was fouled making a field goal and added the foul shot for a three-point play to put the Lady Bobcats on the board.
Sophie Babington followed that up with her first two points of the night to trim ECC's lead to 14-5 with 6:40 left in the half.
The Lady Crusaders responded with a 10-point run over the span of roughly four minutes.
Mourer opened the run with a pair of twos, then Alexander and Klawuhn each made a bucket. Alexander closed out the run with a pair of foul shots to give the Lady Crusaders a 24-5 lead with 2:15 remaining in the half.
Clarion closed out the quarter with four points on a three by Sophie Babington and a foul shot by Taylor Alston, sending the teams into the break with the Lady
Crusaders leading by 15, 24-9.
A three by Gia Babington put Clarion into double digits on the scoreboard 1:12 into the third quarter and cut ECC's lead to 12 points, 24-12.
ECC responded with a five point run as Mourer went one-fortwo from the foul line, Klawuhn made a pair of foul shots, and Tori Newton made a bucket.
Another foul shot by Alston and bucket by Sophie Babington made it a 14-point game, but ECC closed out the frame with a six-point run on twos by Alexander, Newton, and Mourer to head into the fourth quarter leading by 20, 35-15.
Clarion outscored ECC 13-12 in the final quarter, but the contest was never close and ECC easily came away with the win.
Sophie Babington, Gia Babington, and Alston did all the scoring for Clarion in the frame. Sophie Babington hit a pair of threes, Alston scored five points, and Gia Babington made a bucket. Alexander and Mourer each scored their final two points for the Lady Crusaders on a pair of twos, and Newton and Kiri Emmert each also added a bucket as the Lady Crusaders came away with the 47-28 win.
The Lady Crusaders will next be in action on Tuesday in the D9 1A semifinals against the winner of Thursday's game between third seeded North Clarion and sixth seeded Ridgway. The matchup will be played at a site and time to be announced.
Clarion 28 Sophie Babington 2-3-0-0-13, Gia Babington 1-1-0-0-5, Taylor Alston 2-0-3-6-7, Natalie Durish 1-0-1-1-3, Alivia Diehl 0-0-0-0-0, Marley Kline 0-0-0-0-0. Totals 6-4-4-7-28.
Elk Catholic 47 Sami Straub 0-0-00-0, Tori Newton 4-00-1-8, Lucy Klawuhn 1-1-2-2-7, Sydney Alexander 5-0-5-6-15, Emily Mourer 7-0-1-5-15, Kiri Emmert 1-0-0-0-2, Gracee Breindel 0-0-00-0, Sarah Hasselman 0-0-0-0-0. Totals 18-1-813-47.
Score by quarters Clarion 0 9 6 13 28 ECCHS 14 10 11 12 47