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Obama Academy Races Past DuBois Girls

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION, Pa. – DuBois was no match for Obama Academy’s zone press, as the Lady Beavers dropped a 68-33 decision to the Lady Eagles in a PIAA Class AAAA SubRegional game Thursday night at Clarion High School.

DuBois turned the ball over 26 times leading to 27 Obama Academy points.

“We worked on it a lot in practice, our 2-2-1 press, really pressuring the ball when it first comes in” Obama Academy junior Michaela Porter said. “It allowed us to get a lot of steals and turn them into points.”

Thirteen of the points off turnover came in a decisive third quarter that saw the Lady Eagles outscore DuBois 23-3 while not allowing the Lady Beavers a made field goal in the quarter. That expanded a 12-point, 30-18, halftime lead into a 53-21 advantage.

“The message at halftime was we needed to play a little bit harder and pressure the ball a little bit more,” Porter said. “I think that is what we did, and I think that is why the score ran up just as it did.”

Porter had a fantastic game for Obama scoring a game-high 20 points with all of them coming in the first three quarters. She completed a double-double with 10 rebounds.

“Because I was taking it to the hoop so hard, I was able to get easy buckets, which allowed me to get (20) points.”

Courtney Chandler and Dayna DeSalve each scored nine points to lead DuBois.

Kennedy Bowens added 16 points for Obama, while Taylor Stewart chipped in with 12.

OBAMA ACADEMY 68, DUBOIS 33

Score by Quarters

Obama 17 30 23 15 – 68

DuBois 9 9 3 12 – 33

OBAMA ACADEMY – 68

Kennedy Bowens 7 2-2 16, Trese Williams 1 0-0 2, Michaela Porter 8 4-6 20, Taylor Stewart 6 0-0 12, Pataysa Askew 3 2-2 8, Ronnay Sirmons 3 0-0 7, Rakeyla Little 1 0-0 3, Haliee Blackwell 0 0-0 0, Shy’Ann Jefferies 0 0-0 0, An’Drea Williams 0 0-0 0, Talia Mitchell 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 8-10 68.

DUBOIS – 33

Laura Fatula 1 0-2 2, Courtney Chandler 2 5-6 9, Abby Kirk 0 0-0 0, Sarah Snyder 0 0-0 0, Dayna DeSalve 1 6-8 9, Taylore Uplinger 1 0-0 3, Maddie Smith 0 0-0 0, Morgan Henry 1 0-0 2, Chelsea DeSalve 0 2-2 2, Ashley Hallowell 2 2-4 6. Totals 8 15-22 33.

THREE-POINTERS – Obama Academy 2 (Little, Blackwell). DuBois 2 (Uplinger, D. DeSalve).