Venango Catholic girls move into semifinals

KANE, Pa. – Venango Catholic scored as many first-half points as Smethport netted for the game, and the fifth-seeded Lady Vikings advanced back to the PIAA playoffs for the second straight year with a 47-27 win over the Hubber in the District 9 Class A quarterfinals Thursday night at Kane.

Venango Catholic (19-6) led 27-15 at halftime and then outscored Smethport (18-5) 20-12 in the second half.

Taylor Moltz led the Lady Vikings with 16 points including seven of VC’s 11 first-quarter points, while Ava Homan added 15 tallies. Allison Guth chipped in nine points, Claire Niederriter had two points and a team-high eight rebounds and Colleen Cunningham chipped in with two points and six boards.

Venango Catholic was 19 of 28 from the free-throw line in the game including Homan going 9 of 12 and Moltz 6 of 8.  Smethport was just 4 of 14 from the charity stripe.

Morgan Okerlund led Smethport with 14 points, but she was the lone Hubber to score more than six.

Venango Catholic will play the winner of Friday’s DuBois Central Catholic/Elk County Catholic game in the semifinals at a site, time and date to be announced.

VENANGO CATHOLIC 47, SMETHPORT 27

Score by Quarters

Venango Cath. 11 16 8 12 – 47

Smethport 3 12 9 3 – 27

Venango Catholic – 47

Dziekciasz 1 1-2 3, Homan 3 9-12 15, Guth 3 3-4 9, Niederriter 1 0-0 2, Cunningham 1 0-0 2, Moltz 4 6-8 16, Finch 0 0-0 0, Sheffer 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 19-28 47.

Smethport – 27

Gross-Benjamin 1 0-0 3, Alfieri 2 0-0 6, Okerlund 5 4-10 14, Taggart 1 0-0 2, Treat 1 0-4 2, Lord 0 0-0 0, Duffy 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 4-14 27.

Three-pointers – Venango Catholic 2 (Moltz 2). Smethport 3 (Alfieri 2, Gross-Benjamin).