Adelyn Myers

EBENSBURG — Bishop Carroll only had four field goals for the entire fourth quarter in Thursday’s District 6 Class 1A semifinal game against Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy. Adelyn Myers had three of them, including the most important one out of the 24 total for the game for the Lady Huskies.

Myers got a bucket with 12 seconds to go, and the Bishop Carroll defense got a turnover in the end to take a 62-61 victory over St. Joe’s.

The win sets up a District 6 championship with Bishop Guilfoyle, which beat Williamsburg, 61-31, on Thursday in the other semifinal. It will be a rematch as BG just beat the Lady Huskies, 53-44, last weekend in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game.

“I think we’ve played one heck of a season, and I just know we’re not going home yet,” Myers said. “We just recently lost to BG, and we needed that second chance to beat them.”

“I don’t call a lot of timeouts. I let them figure out what they’re going to do,” Bishop Carroll coach Nick Smith said of his team’s final possession. “I figured let’s go down and run the same play we’ve ran a couple times and see if it works. Luckily it did and the ball dropped in the hoop.”

Smith was all smiles after the game, which had 14 lead changes in the second half alone.

“St. Joe’s is a great team,” Smith said. “We knew they would get hot at some point. Not many teams try to play them man. We’ve played man all year. We weren’t going to change for this game.

“These girls just keep playing, and there’s nothing more I can say other than they’re a great group of kids and I’m proud to coach them.”

The two teams previously met each other on the opening weekend of the season where Bishop Carroll beat the Lady Wolfpack, 62-51, back on Nov. 29.

“We came down here and played horrendous the first time,” Saint Joe’s coach Bethany Irwin said. “I knew it would be a different game, and I knew it would be just like this.”

Saint Joe’s got off to a fast start with a 20-10 lead after one quarter, thanks to four 3-pointers, including two from Naomi Crispin. Crispin, a sharpshooter, finished the game with 28 points.

“For us to jump out like we did in the first quarter, I wasn’t expecting that,” Irwin said. “The girls gave every effort they could. It just came down to that last bucket, but I don’t blame that last bucket. I blame the second quarter defense.”

Despite being down by as many 12 in the first half, Bishop Carroll clawed its way back to make it a two-point game at halftime with Saint Joe’s leading, 36-34.

The two teams jumped back and forth throughout the second half with Bishop Carroll taking its first lead of the game on an Ava Pablic triple in the second minute of the second half.

The Lady Huskies led 48-47 with one quarter to play.

Crispin hit a free throw with 31 seconds to play to give Saint Joe’s a 61-60 lead to set up Myers’ heroics.

The two teams could possibly meet up again for a third time in the PIAA playoffs in a couple weeks. The same four schools that made the final four on the western half of last year’s PIAA 1A Tournament are the same four schools that will represent District 6 again this season.

“The best four teams could be in District 6 (Class 1A),” Smith said. “If we play well, we could see them down the road for sure.”

“This was the same scenario last year,” Myers said. “I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if we play them again. I just think we have to play hard like we did tonight.”

Bishop Carroll’s championship against Bishop Guilfoyle will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mount Aloysius. Saint Joseph’s will play Williamsburg in the consolation game on Wednesday night.

ST. JOSEPH’S (62): Luckovich 1 0-0 3, Crispin 9 5-6 28, Cunningham 6 0-0 12, Yartz 4 3-4 11, Himes 1 0-0 3, Fetzer 2 0-0 4. Totals — 23 8-10 61.

BISHOP CARROLL (61): Delauter 1 0-2 3, Lucko 2 5-6 10, Miller 8 2-2 19, Ad. Myers 4 0-0 9, Pablic 7 1-3 19, Av. Myers 1 0-0 2. Totals — 24 8-13 62.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

St. Joseph’s 20 16 11 14 — 61

Bishop Carroll 10 24 14 14 — 62

3-point goals: St. Joseph’s 7 (Luckovich, Crispin 5, Himes); Bishop Carroll 8 (Delauter, Lucko, Miller, Ad. Myers, Pablic 4).

Records: St. Joseph’s (23-3); Bishop Carroll (23-3).

Officials: Fred Glasser, Don Moss, Brandon Ashurst.