CLARION, Pa. – Otto-Eldred you are the champions! Champions of District 9 Class 1A girls’ basketball.
The Lady Terrors rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat defending champion Elk County Catholic, 45-40, Saturday night at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gym and claim the first D9 girls’ hoops title in school history.
“It is indescribable,” Otto-Eldred head coach Shawn Gray said. “I am so proud of my girls. They were champions before today. They just happened to put a championship in the school record book and in the trophy case. The kids I’ve got are true champions as people.”
The Lady Terrors (23-2) trailed 27-16 at halftime and didn’t take the lead for good until Katie Sheeler hit two free throws with 33.6 seconds left.
“I am like, I got to make this right here,” Sheeler said. “This might be the most important shot I take the whole game.”
Rewatch the game
ECC had a chance to tie the game when Sami Straub was fouled with 20.3 seconds to play. But Straub missed both free throws, and, after a timeout, Anna Merry put Otto-Eldred up four with two more free throws.
Merry’s free-throw shooting helped turn the tide in the fourth quarter for the Lady Terrors.
With Otto-Eldred down six, 35-29, early in the quarter, Merry was fouled taking a 3-pointer and made all three to make it a 35-32 game.
“They are not easy for guys like you and I,” Gray said. “But for Anna Merry she goes to sleep making free throws. She has that in her. She doesn’t miss from the stripe.”
ECC (23-4) was still up three, 38-35, when Brooke Close hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:52 left to tie the game.
“These girls’ hearts are so big,” Sheeler said. “They never give up. It doesn’t matter if we are down 20 or down two. This team does not give up until the last second.”
The Lady Terrors then took their first lead of the game when Carrie Drummond scored off a Sheeler assist with 2:26 to play, 40-38.
“They just never give up,” Gray said. “They are high-character kids. They just continue to stay after it, stay after it, stay after it. Eventually, good things will happen.”
But the Lady Crusaders tied the game on an offensive putback by Emily Mourer with 1:32 left setting up the exciting finish.
ECC controlled the first half before the play of Mourer who had nine of her 13 points in the half,
But Otto-Eldred changed things up in the second half and Sheeler started driving and dishing to Bri Heller, who scored six of her eight points in the third quarter to get the Lady Terrors within six, 35-29, by the end of the third quarter.
“We went to what we called a wheel offense,” Gray said. “We kind of put Bri down in the dunker spot and we let our guards kind of create. Man did she finish them in the third quarter.”
Watch Gray’s full postgame interview
Sheeler led Otto-Eldred with 15 points with Close adding 10 and Merry and Heller each scored eight points.
Mourer’s 13 points paced ECC which also got eight points from Tori Newton and seven each from Syd Alexander and Lucy Klawuhn.
Both teams enter the PIAA playoffs. Otto-Eldred will host Monessen and ECC will host Northern Bedford.
“This is the best feeling in the world,” Sheeler said.
Watch Sheeler’s full postgame interview
