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Redbank Valley Girls Hold Off Keystone; Cranberry Beats Clarion; Lady Bulldogs, Berries Tied for First in KSAC South

NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. – With a share of first place in the KSAC South on the line, Redbank Valley used a game-ending 12-3 run to hold off Keystone and pick up a 50-41 home win that coupled with Cranberry’s win over Clarion keeps the Lady Bulldogs tied for first place in the KSAC South with one South game remaining for both teams.

(Photo: Madison Foringer of Redbank Valley was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game after scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Lady Bulldogs win over Keystone)

Also see: Feb. 4 girls’ basketball recaps: Punxsy Wins D9 League, DCC Claims AML South

Keystone, which came into the game in a three-way tie for first with Redbank Valley and Cranberry, found itself down 14, 31-17, at halftime after being outscored 18-8 in the second quarter but rallied to tie the game at 38 on an offensive putback by Natalie Bowser with 5:16 to play.

Relisten to the game:

Lauren Smith, however, abruptly stopped the Lady Panthers run when she took the ball strong to the hole and scored while being fouled at the 4:58 mark giving Redbank Valley the lead back for what turned out to be good despite Smith missing the free throw.

“I knew that we needed to get ahead and make the game faster,” Smith said. “I just knew they would foul if we drove to the basket, especially since it was late in the game they were getting tired.”

Smith’s basket started a 10-0 run for Redbank Valley that included Tara Hinderliter scoring five of her game-high 14 points during the stretch with three of them coming from the free-throw line.

By the time Smith hit the back end of a two-shot foul with under 40 seconds to play, Redbank Valley had the win they desperately needed to stay in the race for the KSAC South title.

Madison Foringer added nine points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Lady Bulldogs and was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game. She talked about the victory.

Smith added eight points, Alivia Huffman seven and Caylen Rearick six on a pair of 3-pointers for Redbank Valley.

Emily Lauer led Keystone with 12 points and scored eight of those during the Lady Panthers big third quarter that saw them outscored Redbank Valley 15-7 to get back in the game.

Jozee Weaver added eight points, all in the first half for Keystone, while Maddie Dunlap, Alyssa Dunlap and Bowser each scored seven. Bowser also had eight rebounds, including five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.

THE COACH AND THE SCRIBE POWERED BY THE REHAB CENTRE

Jess Quinn (The Coach) and Chris Rossetti (The Scribe) broke down the game on the Feb. 4 edition of The Coach and The Scribe Powered by the Rehab Centre. The Rehab Centre has six locations serving you, including in Clarion, Brookville, and Kittanning. The Rehab Centre, Chiropractors Caring for Health.

CRANBERRY 50, CLARION 38

SENECA, Pa. – Using an eight-point third-quarter advantage, Cranberry pulled away from visiting Clarion to remain in control of its own destiny in the KSAC South with a 50-38 win.

The Berries led by five, 25-20, at halftime after outscoring the LadyCats 15-10 in the second quarter and then got six points from Ava Ferringer in the third quarter to expand the lead to 39-26 going to the final eight minutes.

Ferringer had a double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds in the victory with Megan Hadden adding 10 points and Kaia Dean six points and 10 rebounds.

Payton Simko and Kait Constantino led Clarion with 12 points each with KK Girvin adding six.

BREAKING DOWN THE KSAC SOUTH RACE

With one game left for Redbank Valley, Keystone and Cranberry in the KSAC South with Redbank Valley and Cranberry both at 7-2 and Keystone at 6-3 things are shaping up like this.

Cranberry is at Keystone Friday and Redbank Valley is at Moniteau Friday.

  • If Cranberry beats Keystone Friday and North Clarion Feb. 12, Cranberry will win the KSAC South regardless of how Redbank Valley fares against Moniteau based on the third tiebreaker in the KSAC’s tie-breaking system – Record vs. the next team in your division after the tied teams. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head with Redbank Valley and Cranberry having split. The second tiebreaker is overall league record in games mandated by the conference. Both teams obviously would have the same record vs. the KSAC South so record vs. the KSAC North would be used. A Cranberry win over North Clarion would leave both teams at 5-1 in mandated games against the KSAC North. The third tiebreaker would then be record vs. the next team in the standings in the division below the tied teams. In this scenario, Keystone would be the third-place team in the division and Cranberry would have swept the Lady Panthers while Redbank Valley has split with them.
  • If Redbank Valley beats Moniteau Friday and Keystone beats Cranberry then Redbank Valley wins the KSAC South based on having the best conference record
  • If Redbank Valley beats Moniteau Friday, Cranberry beast Keystone and North Clarion beats Cranberry Feb. 12, then Redbank Valley wins the KSAC South based on the second tiebreaker listed above – record vs. the KSAC North at which point Redbank Valley would be 5-1 and Cranberry 4-2
  • If Redbank Valley loses to Moniteau and Keystone beats Cranberry that creates a three-way tie for the KSAC South title at 7-3. It is believed that the first thing that would have to happen is that a team or teams from the three tied would have to be eliminated. To do that you use the tie-breaking system but apply it to all three teams. In head-to-head play, the teams would all be 1-1 vs. each other sending it to the second tiebreaker, record vs. the KSAC North. In this scenario, two things could happen. Either Cranberry beats North Clarion or Cranberry loses to North Clarion. If Cranberry beats North Clarion, then all three teams would be tied at 5-1 vs. the KSAC North meaning that you would move into the next tiebreaker, record vs. the next highest team in the division. This then comes down to how Clarion fares vs. Karns City Friday. If Clarion beats Karns City, then the Lady Cats would finish by themselves in fourth place meaning Redbank Valley would win the division based on having beaten Clarion twice while the other two teams have split with Clarion giving Redbank Valley the title. But if Clarion loses to Karns City then a two-way tie for fourth happens between Moniteau and Clarion with those teams having split their season series. When looking at a three-way head-to-head matchup with Moniteau and Clarion, all three teams would have gone 3-1 vs. those two teams. That would most likely then push the first-place tiebreaker into the fifth criteria, record vs. the next common opponent in the KSAC North starting with the first-place team, which is North Clarion. In this scenario, Cranberry would win the tiebreaker because they would have beaten North Clarion while the other two teams lost to North Clarion. Now if Cranberry loses to North Clarion then that would immediately eliminate Cranberry creating a two-way tie between Keystone and Redbank Valley. Things would then go back to the start of the tie-breaker system. The teams split their head-to-head meetings and both would be 5-1 vs. the KSAC North. They would then both be 1-1 vs. Cranberry, which at this point would be considered the third-place team in the division. Now it goes into how they fared vs. the fourth-place team, which again boils down to who finishes in fourth. If Clarion finished fourth by itself, then Redbank Valley wins the tiebreaker. If Moniteau and Clarion tie for fourth then both teams would be 3-1 vs. those teams team most likely pushing the tiebreaker into the other division. In this case, both teams lost to North Clarion and beat the other five teams moving the tiebreaker into the number of total wins (the entire schedule) vs. teams at or above .500. In sticking with the craziness of this scenario, that could go a few different ways. Both teams would have the same number of wins vs. teams at or above .500 if Iroquois, who Redbank Valley played, doesn’t win its final three games AND Harbor Creek, who Keystone played, wins one of its final four games. If Iroquois finishes above .500 or Harbor Creek does not, then Redbank Valley wins that tiebreaker. But if Iroquois finishes below .500 and Harbor Creek finishes above then it goes to the final tiebreaker, the overall winning percentage of all teams played. And honestly, at this point, that is an unknown that would have to be figured out once the entire season is played out.

All of the above, of course, is unofficial and the KSAC could see the tiebreaker falling a different way. The above is based on the best knowledge and research at the time but may not be 100 percent accurate.