Lady Tigers advance to final
Stitt scores 14 in first half
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The DuBois girls basketball team was well aware of Hollidaysburg's Marin Miller, Sydney Lear and Alison Hatajik from previous meetings. They knew what those Lady Tigers could do offensively.
Now they can add one more name to that list for the future.
Sophomore Ashden Stitt came out on fire for Hollidaysburg, scoring all 14 of her points in the first half to help Hollidaysburg beat the Lady Beavers, 66-43, in the District 6 Class 5A semifinals Wednesday night.
The Tigers (8-5) will play Central Mountain -- a team that already defeated Hollidaysburg earlier this year -- at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Bald Eagle Area High School for the championship.
"We didn't account for her," DuBois coach Keith Kriner said of Stitt. "We knew about No. 4 (Lear), No. 34 (Hatajik) and (Marin) Miller, but she was the wild card we didn't expect, and she hit quite a few shots."
DuBois got a bucket from Saige Weible at the 4:12 mark to cut the Tigers' lead to 5-4 in the first quarter. However, when the quarter was done, Miller had scored five and Lear had scored six, but it was Stitt's six points that were a welcome sight for the Lady Tigers faithful.
"I really believe this team, 1 through 17, on any given night can step up and do big things for us with their ability," Hollidaysburg coach Deanna Jubeck said. "They all work hard every day at practice. We see this. It was just a matter of bringing it on game night. Ashden's ball went in. Her shots were falling and good for her. She did it when we needed it at this time of the year."
The Hollidaysburg defense harassed DuBois into numerous turnovers in the second quarter, extending its lead to 27-8 at the 4:55 mark on a Stitt bucket. She scored eight in the frame to go with eight from Miller. When the dust settled, DuBois hit just one field goal in the quarter and trailed, 37-14, at the break.
"It's tough for us to match up with them man to man. They have some really good players," Kriner said. "That is why we went to the (1-3-1) zone. We tried to hold them to one shot per possession, get the rebound and then go but we didn't get any rebounds because the ball was going through the hoop."
Hollidaysburg continued its offensive assault in the third quarter, totaling 20 points, 13 of which came from Miller, who finished with 26 points.
"She brings it all 94 feet all night long for 32 minutes," Jubeck said of her junior guard. "She can break down any defense and get to the rim at will. You just love having a girl like that on your team."
Kriner found comfort in the fact that his team didn't give up in the third quarter, scoring 16 points, thanks to six each from Weible and Abigail Guiher. Unfortunately, Hollidaysburg was still up big, 57-28, going into the final frame.
"We told them that in the locker room at the end. They scored more points in the third quarter than we did in the first half," he said. "They didn't give up and they played hard the whole game. Obviously, we would like another draw in the first round of playoffs, but for us to get to the big dance, we have to go through a Hollidaysburg at some point."
Lear finished with 15 points for Hollidaysburg, which got all 14 of its players into the game.
"The last time we played them, they used a junk defense against Marin so we practiced against that all week, and then they caught us off guard with that 1-3-1," Jubeck said. "We knew that Ashden could benefit from that. She was the one that was not quite well known yet."
DuBois was led by Weible's eight points. Guiher, Madison Rusnica and Taylor Smith each added six points.
"We are going to miss our four seniors," Kriner said of Olivia Johnson, Smith, Guiher and Saige Weible. "Now we are going to see where we go from here. With everything that went on (this year), we are happy with where we were."
DuBOIS (43): Guiher 2 0-0 6, Fontaine 1 3-4 5, Rusnica 0 6-8 6, Runyon 0 0-0 0, Snyder 0 1-4 1, A. Geist-Salone 1 0-0 2, I. Geist-Salone 1 0-0 2, Smith 2 2-2 6, Chewning 0 0-0 0, S. Weible 4 0-0 8, Werner 0 0-0 0, Pfeufer 0 3-4 3, Johnson 2 0-2 4, G. Orzeshowski 0 0-0 0, M. Orzechowski 0 0-0 0, Wilmoth 0 0-0 0, McCoy 0 0-0 0, B. Weible 0 0-0 0, Graeca 0 0-0 0, Berta 0 0-0 0, Eckley 0 0-0 0, Lander 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 13 15-25 43.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (66): Smith 0 0-0 0, Figard 1 0-0 2, Miller 9 5-6 26, Hatajik 2 2-2 6, Lear 6 2-3 15, Stitt 5 1-2 14, DiPangrazio 0 0-0 0, Shoemaker 0 0-0 0, I. Yohn 0 0-0 0, Reed 0 3-4 3, Steiner 0 0-0 0, Ferris 0 0-0 0, Kordish 0 0-0 0, Dawson 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 23 13-17 66.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
DuBois 6 8 16 13 -- 43
Hollidaysburg 17 20 20 9 -- 66
3-point goals: DuBois 2 (Guiher 2); Hollidaysburg 7 (Miller 3, Stitt 3, Lear)
Records: DuBois (13-7); Hollidaysburg (8-5)
Officials: Terri Piatak, Chad Walsh, Nick Roman