Lady Blue Devils save their best for last against United
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By Matt Michelone
For the Mirror
BELLWOOD -- Saturday afternoon's District 6 Class 2A girls basketball quarterfinal between No. 3 Bellwood-Antis and No. 6 United wasn't one for the faint of heart.
Coming down the stretch, the Lady Lions' Molly Fry buried a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one point with three seconds to go in the game.
But the Lady Blue Devils ran out the clock without having to inbound the ball as they survived a 52-51 thriller before a raucous crowd at the Bellwood-Antis High School Gymnasium.
"We play hard, we're not perfect, we're young, we make some young mistakes, but we also play our tail off," Bellwood-Antis coach Jim Swaney said. "I'm very, very happy for these kids because it still gives us a chance to play for a potential district title, and more than anything, it gives us a chance to play in the state tournament. Come next (week) there's going to be a lot of teams at home, and 32 teams left playing, and we're going to be one of them."
Right off the jump it was a back-and-forth game as United's Jordyn Travis got the steal and a layin off the fast break for two of her eight points.
Bellwood found life on offense late in the period as Chloe Hammond buried a runner, only to have it answered on a buzzer-beater by Lauren Donelson to give United a 15-13 lead after 1.
"It was definitely a tough game," United coach Craig Bytner said. "Bellwood definitely came to play, and I thought we came to play, too. You can't ask for a much better game than that."
More of the same came in the quarter as Donelson got a late 3-pointer to give the visitors a 28-25 lead at the break. She scored 15 points while Fry led the Lady Lions (16-7) with 16.
Bellwood started flipping the script early in the second half. Lydia Worthing scored on a putback, and Jaidyn McCracken got a bucket off a turnover and runner. McCracken finished with 13 points.
United answered those points as Travis got the and-1 for the Lady Lions for a 39-33 lead after three quarters.
"I think we finally figured out how to play in the second half as a team," Lady Blue Devil Chelsea McCaulsky said. "It was a big win, we stayed together as a team. We didn't turn on each other and point fingers."
McCaulsky -- who led all scorers with 21 points - powered that effort during the fourth quarter. She put away a runner of her own at one point, and a minute later, McCracken got the bonus shot. Her bucket to put the Lady Blue Devils up 46-44 with three minutes to go gave Bellwood (20-5) the lead for good.
The win now sends Bellwood-Antis back to the PIAA postseason and sets up a date at top-seed Bishop McCort tonight at 7. McCaulsky is optimistic about their chances to bounce back from a 63-52 loss to the Crimson Crushers back on Feb. 5.
"We know we can run with them, we know we can play with them, and we have a little bit of a fire under our butts to go after them," McCaulsky said of the rematch. "We were up 11, I walk into school the next day and people asked me what happened in the second half. We're probably playing of the best teams in the state (on Monday)."
UNITED (51): Bovard 0 5-6 5, Travis 2 4-5 8, L. Donelson 6 2-2 15, Fry 5 4-4 16, Salk 1 1-2 3, Perrone 2 0-0 4, McGinnis 0 0-0 0, A. Donelson. Totals -- 16 16-19 51.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS (52): McCaulsky 6 9-13 21, McCracken 5 2-3 13, Worthing 3 0-0 6, Partner 0 0-0 0, Hammond 3 2-2 10, Clapper 0 2-2 2, Norton 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 17 15-20 52.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
United 15 13 11 12 - 51
Bellwood-Antis 13 12 8 19 - 52
3-point field goals: United 3 (Donelson, Fry 2), Bellwood-Antis 5 (McCaulsky 2, McCracken, Hammond 2)
Records: United (16-7), Bellwood-Antis (20-5).
Officials: Jack McDougal, Bryan James, Ray Klinger.