Thursday’s District 9 Girls’ Basketball Playoff Previews

Thursday features three District 9 girls’ Class 1A quarterfinal games.

(Photo of Coudersport’s Sarah Chambers, who is the leading scorer for the Class 1A No. 2 seeded Lady Falcons. Photo by Paul Burdick. Check out more of Burdick’s work here)

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DISTRICT 9 CLASS 1A QUARTERFINALS

CLASS 1A QUARTERFINALS

(7) DuBois Central Catholic vs. (2) Coudersport

When and Where: 7 p.m. at St. Marys High School
Records: DCC 10-13; Coudersport 18-4
Winner Plays: Winner of the Cameron County/Otto-Eldred game in the semifinals Tuesday
DCC Leading Scorers: Shay Gulvas (11.2 ppg), Jordan Kosko (8.3 ppg), Martina Swalligan (8.2 ppg), Maia Cogley (6.7 ppg)
Coudersport Leading Scorers: Sarah Chambers (14.1 ppg), Rosalyn Page (8.6 ppg), Lauren Stimaker (8.2 ppg), Mikayla Gunn (6.9 ppg), Elizabeth Frame (6.6 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: DCC 1999 in Class 1A; Coudersport 2018 in Class 2A
Notes: After a slow start, DCC has come on strong winning 8 of its final 13 games … All four of Coudersport’s losses have come against higher classification playoff teams including three to teams in the 4A semifinals (two to St. Marys and one to Bradford) with the other loss being to Brockway by seven points … DCC played Brockway three times beating the Lady Rovers twice … Coudersport enters the postseason on a six-game win streak, while DCC has dropped its last two games … The Lady Falcons are the second-best defensive team in D9 and the top Class 1A defensive group allowing 26.7 ppg. Their plus 20.6 ppg margin of victory is third in D9 behind just Port Allegany and North Clarion … DCC has had a unique season that through 23 games has seen the Lady Cardinals allow 940 points while also scoring 940 points … Chambers is the younger sister of District 9’s all-time leading boys’ scorer, Owen Chambers, who is at Mercyhurst now.

DuBois Central Catholic playoff information brought to you by: Fran Morelli Sales & Service • Lezzer Lumber

Coudersport playoff information brought to you by: Team Minard • Potter County Family Campground • Close’s Lumber Company

(6) Cameron County vs. (3) Otto-Eldred

When and Where: 6 p.m. at Kane High School
Records: Cameron County 11-11; Otto-Eldred 15-6
Winner Plays: Winner of the DCC/Coudersport game in the semifinals Tuesday
Cameron County Leading Scorers: Kaelee Bresslin (14.5 ppg), Mallory McKimm (8.7 ppg), Morgan Lorenzo (5.8 ppg in 12 games)
Otto-Eldred Leading Scorers: Katie Sheeler (9.4 ppg), Kayley Heller (7.5 ppg), Jadelynn Spinney (6.7 ppg), Haley Cousins (6.1 ppg), Reilly Raught (6.1 ppg), Bri Heller (5.7 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Neither team has ever won a D9 title with Cameron County going 0-2 in title games and Otto-Eldred 0-1.
Notes: This is the third meeting of the year between these NTL rivals. Otto-Eldred won the first two by counts of 47-45 Dec. 20 in Emporium and 42-28 Jan. 27 in Duke Center. In the game at Cameron County, Katie Sheeler scored 22 points with Spinney adding 13 for the Lady Terrors. McKimm led Cameron County with 15 points with Hailey Hilfiger, who has missed the last 14 games with an injury, added 13 and Bresslin 10 for the Lady Raiders. In the game at O-E, Kayley Heller had 13 points and Cousins 12 for the Lady Terrors, while McKimm had 12 and Bresslin 10 for Cameron County … Otto-Eldred is the seventh-highest scoring team in D9 averaging 49.7 ppg, while Cameron County’s 38.0 ppg are the third-lowest among playoff teams. The Lady Raiders, though, rank seventh in D9 in scoring defense allowing just 35.6 ppg just behind the Lady Terrors, who rank sixth allowing 34.1 ppg … Otto-Eldred comes in to the game having won 9 of 12 with two of the losses to second-seeded Coudersport – the other was to Class 2A’s Kane … After losing three in a row at the end of January, Cameron County enters play having won three straight while going 8-4 since Jan. 10.

Otto-Eldred playoff information brought to you by: Team Minard • Potter County Family Campground • Close’s Lumber Company

(5) Union vs. (4) Elk County Catholic

When and Where: 7 p.m. at Punxsutawney High School
Records: Union 11-11; ECC 14-10
Winner Plays: Top-seeded and three-time defending champion North Clarion Tuesday in the semifinals
Union Leading Scorers: Dominika Logue (17.0 ppg), Hailey Kriebel (7.4 ppg), Keira Croyle (6.9 ppg), Maggie Minick (6.6 ppg)
ECC Leading Scorers: Taylor Newton (16.9 ppg), Tami Geci (6.4 ppg), Brooke Bauer (5.7 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Union 2007 in Class 1A; ECC 2010 in Class 1A
Notes: This game features two of the top players in District 9. Logue, a sophomore, is the fifth-leading scorer in District 9, while Newton, a senior who is headed to Pitt on a track scholarship, is the sixth-leading scorer. Newton averages a double-double adding 12.4 rpg and has recorded double-doubles in 20 of her 25 games including in each of her last seven contests … Logue averaged 18.6 ppg through her first 14 games but has scored 14.4 through her last eight with both Kriebel and Croyle increasing their production to over eight points per game … Union started the season 6-2 but followed the up by losing 5 of 6. Since ending a four-game slide in mid-January, the Golden Damsels have gone 5-5 in their last 10 … ECC has struggled down the stretch as well going 1-4 in its last five, but the Lady Crusaders losses have come to St. Marys, Brookville, Bradford and Kane. In fact, ECC has not lost to a Class 1A school this year going 6-0. Now, it should be noted, that those seven wins have come against teams that had a combined 14 wins, with 10 of those coming from DCC … Despite being four games over .500, ECC actually has been outscored this season – 927 to 913 … Union struggled on defense allowing 43.7 ppg, which ranks 25th in D9 this year. Only Bradford, Brookville and DuBois among playoff teams allow more … Only Ridgway among postseason teams scores fewer than the 38.0 ppg ECC does, which ranks 21st in D9.

Union playoff information brought to you by: Delta Contracting & Design/Ace Concrete & Excavating • Burford & Henry Real Estate Services • Lezzer Lumber • Tin Town Metal Works • State Representative Donna Oberlander (Paid for by Friends of Donna Oberlander)

Full coverage of District 9 teams in the basketball postseason can be found here.