Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Bellwood-Antis' Lydia Worthing battles Bishop McCort's Bria Bair for a rebound.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

BELLWOOD — A year ago, the Bellwood-Antis girls basketball team had a magical run to the PIAA semifinals that began with a wild celebration after a one-point win over United in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals.

Thursday night, the emotions were just as strong, but in a negative way for the Lady Blue Devils.

Top-seeded Bellwood-Antis saw a six-point halftime lead quickly evaporate during a third quarter in which it struggled to find the bottom of the net, and ninth-seeded Bishop McCort took advantage in a 65-52 win that ended the Lady Blue Devils season and the high school careers of their three seniors.

One of those, point guard Chelsea McCaulsky, collapsed into B-A coach Jim Swaney’s arms in tears as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“I knew this was my last game I would ever play,” McCaulsky said. “I have been playing for him for 13 years, and it’s really hard. I don’t know how many basketball games I have played my entire life between AAU playing four games a day, but we just couldn’t get it done tonight. It was really hard, but I’m thankful to God for Coach Swaney and (assistant) Coach (Kyley) Longo. Those two are my best friends. Those two gave me everything.”

Swaney, who has coached almost 850 career games, took the loss hard and sat on the bench for several moments to compose himself after exiting the locker room.

“(McCaulsky) is all heart,” Swaney said. “She’s all heart and guts. I don’t know how we’re going to replace her. It’s going to take a really special kid to replace her, I can tell you that. Her, Lydia (Worthing) and Aly (Partner). All three. These seniors have been tremendous. I could care less about myself, but I feel really bad for them.”

Along with Jaidyn McCracken, who graduated after last season, this Bellwood-Antis senior class were on the 2020 Lady Blue Devil team that made it to the PIAA quarterfinals attempting to win a third-straight state championship before COVID-19 led to the cancellation of that season. The group fought back to make the PIAA semifinals and lost to Neshannock, the eventual state champion, in a close game last year.

“We have had three great seniors,” Swaney said. “Aly Partner has been a great player for us. Lydia Worthing and Chelsea McCaulsky I truly believe will go down as two of the top 10 players to ever wear a Lady Blue Devil uniform. I believe that. Lydia has averaged a double-double all year. She’s on a short list of the best post players in the area, and she’s first or second on that list. Chelsea McCaulsky plays with all heart. I know this isn’t the way she wanted to go out, but that’s a kid that never quits and never slows down. I don’t know how we’re going to replace their ability and replace their leadership. I can’t say enough about them. They are great players. I love them both.”

Bishop McCort made twice the 3-pointers Bellwood-Antis did (8-4), which happened very rarely this season with B-A’s solid group of shooters.

“We’re a team that shoots a lot of 3s,” Swaney said. “Tonight they didn’t fall.”

Worthing did her best to keep Bellwood-Antis in the game with the outside shots not falling and finished with 25 points and 22 rebounds.

“It is really tough to give it everything you’ve got and have nothing left in the tank after,” Worthing said. “At least I can say I didn’t leave anything out there. I’ll always remember how far we went last year and the memories with long bus rides and singing with my teammates on the bus. I’ll always have so many memories from this program, and it will always be a huge part of my life.”

Worthing had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the first quarter alone, but the Lady Crushers made an adjustment to help slow her down.

“She was killing us in the first half,” Bishop McCort coach John Hahn said. “We moved Gianna (Gallucci), who had foul trouble, and went to a four across to one back zone. Wherever Worthing was, we had the girl on that side sliding back. If she got the ball, we just dug at her. We did a much better job on her the second half.”

Gallucci led Bishop McCort offensively with 29 points, and senior Bria Bair added 13 points and 13 rebounds.

“This is big for our program,” Hahn said. “We have struggled all year long. We have won two or three and then dropped three. I know (Swaney) probably didn’t want to see us, and we certainly didn’t want to see him. I told the girls, they put their shorts and shoes on one at a time just like us. We’re as good as anyone in District 6. We just had to believe it.”

Bellwood’s Leigha Clapper made a 3-pointer with 2:54 left in the third quarter to put her team ahead, 41-39, but McCort ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a six-point lead into the final eight minutes. Bellwood-Antis never got any closer the rest of the game and ended up missing 13 foul shots along with its cold shooting night from beyond the 3-point line.

“It’s a fine line,” Swaney said. “We beat United by one in this round last year to move on, and then we made the final four. It’s a fine line. If we get past this game, maybe we win a district championship. Maybe we’re back in the final four. But tonight it didn’t work out that way. Credit Bishop McCort. They capitalized on their opportunities, and we didn’t.”

McCaulsky, who went over 1,000 career points earlier in the season, finished with nine points as did Chloe Hammond.

“It’s always a positive environment here at Bellwood,” McCaulsky said. “We’re always a family with each other. We treat each other like sisters. We fight with each other and battle for each other. If one person says something about another, we go and talk to the other person about it. We’re a family.”

Bishop McCort will take on Homer-Center, which upset No. 4 seeded Southern Huntingdon, in the semifinals on Monday. Second-seeded Portage and third-seeded Penns Manor were also upset by lower seeds in Thursday’s quarterfinal round.

“I don’t know who is going to come out of this group,” Hahn said. “They are all tough. It’s a good bracket, and 2A is the one that you don’t want to be in.”

BISHOP McCORT (65): Gallucci 7 12-16 29, Bair 4 4-6 13, Beppler 2 2-2 8, Berkebile 1 1-4 4, Bailey 2 0-0 5, Pruess 2 0-0 4, Zucco 1 0-1 2, Kibler 0 0-0 0. Totals — 19 19-29 65.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (52): McCaulsky 3 2-4 9, Worthing 11 3-7 25, Clapper 1 2-2 5, Hammond 3 1-6 9, Gerwert 2 0-2 4, Partner 0 0-0 0, Quick 0 0-0 0. Totals — 20 8-21 52.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop McCort 12 13 22 18 — 65

Bellwood-Antis 16 15 10 11 — 52

3-point goals: Bishop McCort 8 (Gallucci 3, Beppler 2, Bair, Berkebile, Bailey); Bellwood-Antis 4 (Hammond 2, McCaulsky, Clapper).

Records: Bishop McCort (13-12); Bellwood-Antis (19-6).

Officials: Albert Jones, Melina Fenton, Jim Morgan.