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Lady Lions survive just enough for OT victory

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Altoona's Adalynn Cherry goes to the net between Mt. Lebanon's Brooke Collins (left) and Patrice Smith.

CRESSON — Adaliz Corbin’s layup that put Altoona up by six points with less than a minute to play sent many of those in attendance at Mount Aloysius into a frenzy Friday night.

But Mount Lebanon wasn’t ready to concede the teams’ PIAA Class 6A first-round game.

The Lady Blue Devils outscored the Lady Lions 8-2 in the final minute, highlighted by Ashleigh Connor making all three free throws with 1.6 seconds left after being fouled shooting from deep beyond the arc, and took advantage of three Altoona turnovers to send the game to overtime.

It would have been easy to understand if an Altoona team that had just had the wind sucked out of it came out flat in the extra session.

The Lady Lions, specifically Adalynn Cherry, did not.

The junior point guard battled through sickness and scored 10 of her 17 points in overtime to lead Altoona to a 60-56 triumph.

“Brooklynn Rupert, Stevie Webber and Adaliz Corbin had a fever and a sore throat all week,” Altoona coach Chris Fleegle said. “They didn’t practice until yesterday for the first time. Stevie had to leave practice early. Then Adalynn Cherry couldn’t practice last night with a fever. She was throwing up at halftime. So the fact she responded like that in overtime, that’s what you want your point guard to do. She got to the basket, and I can’t say enough about her.”

Cherry started the extra session with back-to-back layups, and after Connor made a pair of free throws, Cherry’s traditional three-point play gave the Lady Lions a 55-50 lead with 1:37 left.

“We kind of lost our defensive positions,” Mount Lebanon coach Dori Oldaker said. “She was able to get to the hoop, and that went against our defensive plan. She’s a very nice player.”

Connor, who led the Lady Blue Devils with 23 points, brought Mount Lebanon back within two on a layup with less than a minute to play, but Brooklyn Barron beat the press for a layup to put Altoona back up two scores with 40 seconds left.

“It comes back to the character of the players on the team,” Fleegle said. “I push those kids, significantly, at practice. In games, I’m on them for little mistakes. When something that big goes wrong (losing the six-point lead), it was important for us as a coaching staff to calm them down and let them know we were still going to win the game. They believed we could do it, and I’m so proud of them.”

Caranda Perea had a team-high 21 points, eight blocks and eight rebounds for the Lady Lions.

“Before overtime I said ‘we’re winning this game no matter what, don’t let them take it away from us,'” Perea said. “We’ve made so much growth from the beginning of the season. If that would have happened at the beginning of the season, we would have folded. But everyone looked each other in the eyes and knew we could win. Seeing that, makes me even more excited to play, knowing the growth everyone has made.”

Perea’s defense made any shot in the paint difficult for Mount Lebanon, which defeated Altoona, 53-50, in the season opener.

“She’s a complete player,” Fleegle said. “She doesn’t get enough credit for her defense. I’ve said all year that we have the best rim protector in our conference. She makes them take tough shots or she rejects them. As the season went on, we have been moving her closer and closer to the basket. Sometimes post-ups are easier than making 3s.”

Altoona will play District 11 champion Nazareth, a 68-40 winner over Downingtown East, Tuesday in the second round.

“I think our team can go really far, so it’s really exciting,” Perea said. “We have believed it all year.”

MOUNT LEBANON (56): Smith 1 1-2 3, Collins 3 0-0 7, Connor 7 9-9 23, Murdoch 2 2-2 7, Palmer 4 0-0 12, Streiff 2 0-2 4, Bruni 0 0-0 0. Totals — 19 12-15 56.

ALTOONA (60): Rupert 2 0-1 5, Webber 1 2-2 5, Cherry 6 4-6 17, Corbin 3 0-0 6, Perea 10 1-1 21, Barron 2 0-0 4, Smith 1 0-0 2, Lane 0 0-0 0. Totals — 25 7-10 60.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mount Lebanon 10 13 10 15 8 — 56

Altoona 6 17 17 8 12 — 60

3-point goals: Mount Lebanon 6 (Palmer 4, Collins, Murdoch); Altoona 3 (Rupert, Webber, Cherry).

Records: Mount Lebanon (18-7); Altoona (14-10).

Officials: Sarah Fye, Dave Reimer, Rod Brumbaugh

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