Fourth-quarter flurry guides Beaver Falls to 3rd state title

Serra Catholic beat Marian Catholic for the girls Class A title.
HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) -- What a comeback. What a fourth quarter. What a way for Beaver Falls to win a state championship.
The Tigers scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter in a dominant, athletic effort and turned a close game into a 71-59 win over York Catholic in the PIAA Class AA title game Saturday.
Jack Anderson scored 23 points and Lance Jeter had 21 to help the Tigers (28-3) win their third state championship and first since 1994.
"We have the best defense in the state because we're the hardest-working team in the state," Anderson said. "We knew we could do it all along and we just came through in the fourth."
The Tigers trailed by as many as 11 in the third quarter when they started their rally.
When Anderson sank a 3 to pull Beaver Falls to 48-46 early in the fourth, the largest crowd of the two-day championships erupted. Then Jeter hit a little jumper on the baseline to tie the score and Anderson put them ahead 50-48 with a jumper in traffic.
York Catholic (25-9) didn't score in the fourth until Jacob Iati hit a 3-pointer with 3:27 left. That made it 54-51, but the game may as well have been over.
Anderson went to work on sealing the win from the line, hitting four free throws with 1:50 left -- two on a foul and two more on a technical -- to push the lead to 12. Beaver Falls stretched a 26-8 run over two quarters.
Girls
Brittany Matta had to pause and look toward Serra Catholic's student section before shooting some free throws in the final minute.
She smiled at the rowdies in appreciation of their chant: "You wish you were an Eagle."
No doubt about that. There were surely a lot of teams that wished they were the Eagles.
Matta and Staci Menzies each scored 16 points to lead Serra Catholic to the PIAA Class A state championship with a 53-44 win over Marian Catholic. It was the first state title for the Eagles.
"This is just incredible," Coach Bill Cleary said. "It's a fitting ending to this type of year. They always find a way to win."
This time, Serra Catholic (28-1) found its way back from a halftime deficit with strong inside shooting. The Eagles were outrebounded by 13, but that hardly mattered once the offense found easy looks under the basket.
"We just tried to get it inside and that worked for us," Menzies said. "We got a lot of fouls."
Sure enough, Serra made 14 of 17 free throws.
Leaders
Amanda Eckart scored 13 points, Jody Searfoss had 11 points and Jen Blasko grabbed 11 rebounds for the Fillies (29-4), who played in their second title game in two years.
Matta rallied the Eagles from a one-point halftime deficit in the third, converting a nifty three-point play for a 33-26 lead.
The Eagles pounded the ball inside, getting easy baskets or getting to the line. But Marian kept pace with 3-pointers, getting two from Eckart at the end of the third to pull to 35-32.
"They were hitting those 3s and I was like, please miss sometime soon," Cleary said.
Eckart did hit another 3 early in the fourth, but the Fillies couldn't keep pace. Menzies and Matta scored from the post to push the lead to nine.
"We spread the floor out a little more offensively out of our normal traditional sets because they were helping so well that we had to create something," Cleary said. "Once we penetrated some seams, we were able to get some looks."
Marian Catholic shot just 33 percent from the floor. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles made five of six shots; the Fillies were a woeful 2-for-15.
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