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THREE SPRINGS -- Bellwood-Antis junior standout post Lilly Gerwert said that the entire Lady Blue Devils basketball team is putting forth a maximum effort to keep its season going for its senior players.
Gerwert certainly did her part to help Bellwood keep its hopes for a PIAA Class 2A state tournament berth alive, scoring 29 points and grabbing 20 rebounds Thursday night as fourth-seeded Bellwood prevailed, 60-58, over third-seeded Southern Huntingdon in what was a third-place consolation game street fight contested at Southern Huntingdon High School's Phil Speck Gymnasium.
"Everything we're doing is for our senior class of players,'' Gerwert said. "We didn't want to lose. We want to keep playing with them.''
Thursday's win accomplished that for Bellwood (13-12), which will face the third-place finisher out of District 9 -- the winner of tonight's Kane vs. Keystone matchup -- in a PIAA tournament play-in game Tuesday night at a District 9 site. The winner of that game will move on to the state tournament next Friday.
Thursday's Bellwood-Southern Huntingdon game featured a spirited effort by both teams. Bellwood started the game with a 10-0 run before Southern Huntingdon (which finished its season with an 18-7 record) rallied back to go ahead by as many as seven points, 25-18, in the third quarter.
The two teams were tied, 30-30, at halftime, but Bellwood gained some separation in the third quarter, building a nine-point 44-35 lead on Gerwert's fifth 3-pointer of the night before Southern Huntingdon rallied again and eventually went ahead, 52-50, on senior Chloe Brown's baseline jumper with 2:40 left in the game.
Not to be outdone, Bellwood took back the lead for good, 58-56, on a putback by senior guard Leigha Clapper with a minute left. As time ran down, Gerwert hit one of two free throws with 18 seconds left to give Bellwood a 59-56 lead.
Junior guard Caleigh Clark -- who led Southern with 14 points -- scored a field goal to pull the Lady Rockets to within a point, 59-58, but Clapper was fouled with two seconds left and made one of two shots, with Norton securing the clinching rebound, as Bellwood lived to fight another day.
"This is the type of game that comes down to mental toughness -- how bad that you want it,'' Bellwood coach Kyley Longo said. "After losing to (Bishop) McCort (in Monday's semifinal round), we bounced back tonight, and we keep dancing.''
Along with Gerwert's mammoth night, Norton and Clapper chipped in with 12 points apiece for Bellwood.
"Lilly Gerwert played out of her mind tonight, and I thought that we handled their pressure very well,'' Longo said. "Our two seniors (Norton and Clapper) played very heads-up basketball at the end of the game.''
Seniors Haley Ross and Chloe Brown scored 10 points apiece for Southern Huntingdon, which endured a midseason coaching change when its former head coach resigned abruptly and one of its assistant coaches, Shawn Young, was promoted to the top spot.
"I'm proud of our girls,'' Young said. "They went through a lot, and they had a tough year this year. But it was a good season for them. We had a few turnovers tonight at the end of the game that kind of hurt us, and our slow start at the beginning of the game really killed us."
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (60): Clapper 5 1-5 12, Gerwert 9 6-8 29, Sweigert 0 1-2 1, Sloey 2 1-1 5, Norton 5 0-0 12, Cacciotti 0 0-0 0, Waite 0 1-2 1. Totals - 21 10-18 60.
SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON (58): Irvin 3 0-0 6, E. Young 4 1-3 9, Brown 5 0-2 10, Ross 3 3-4 10, Thomas 3 0-0 9, Clark 6 0-0 14, Peterson 0 0-0 0. Totals - 24 4-9 58.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellwood-Antis 11 19 16 14--60
Southern Huntingdon 13 17 12 16--58
3-point goals: Bellwood-Antis (13-12); Southern Huntingdon (18-7).
Records: Bellwood-Antis 8 (Gerwert 5, Norton 2, Clapper); Southern Huntingdon 6 (Thomas 3, Clark 2, Ross).
Officials: Bill Musser, Jay Detwiler, Emma Musser.