Raiders hold off Cardinals in OT

February 20, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

By Steve WILAJ

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

Before Cardinal Mooney could steal Wednesday’s Division III first round game from South Range, it was Ashley Sharp who came up with a key swipe to help save the Raiders’ season.

With 55 seconds remaining and South Range leading by two points in overtime, the Cardinals’ Jaclyn Yankle received a pass on the block and turned for a wide-open layup. Just as she did, Sharp raced over from the weak side, stripped the ball and gained possession.

“I knew they were trying to get it to her,” Sharp said. “I was just waiting in help and saw her turn around, so I just swooped in there and grabbed it.”

The play led to two free throws by teammate Sierra Petrella, which ultimately iced the game and earned the Raiders an all-too-close-for-comfort 45-39 opening- round victory.

“It feels good. We knew at the draw that it was going to be a tough first-round game,” South Range coach Tony Matisi said. “They had us beat at their place a couple weeks ago, but we made some plays at the end. So it kind of played out the way we thought it would tonight.”

The second-seeded Raiders (19-3) defeated Mooney, 50-47, in a regular-season contest and passed on a bye at the tournament draw to earn another matchup with the seventh-seeded Cardinals (10-11). And it nearly came back to bite them.

After South Range led 20-11 at halftime, Mooney used a 28-19 second half to force overtime and even had the last possession in regulation.

Tied at 39 with 10.3 seconds left, the Raiders turned the ball over with a backcourt violation on their in-bounds play. Mooney’s Jamie DiDomenico then took the last shot, but her driving layup bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

“We challenged the girls at halftime to bring more intensity and it ended up being two evenly matched teams through overtime,” Cardinals coach Bill Ritter said. “On that last play, it’s hard to call a foul in that situation. She’s a senior and we wanted to give her that opportunity and it was almost a great ending for her to finish that off.”

In overtime, Sharp’s clutch steal was just an example of South Range’s defense all night. The Raiders shut out Mooney, 6-0, in the extra period and forced the Cardinals into 22 turnovers for the game.

“We put our heads down for a second [after the turnover in regulation], but then realized we just had to play hard defense and get the ball back,” Sharp said. “That’s what we do — we just keep fighting hard until the last minute.”

Megan Czopur and Starla Sharp each added seven points for South Range, which shot just 16-of-30 from the foul line.

“Our problem all year has been leaving buckets out on the floor that we should have converted,” Matisi said. “You’re not gonna go deep unless you do some of that stuff. I hope I can impress that upon them in the next couple of days.”

South Range will host Girard on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the second round of the tournament.

Mooney was led by Yankle’s 17 and DiDomenico’s nine points.

“Just a really tough one to swallow right now,” Ritter said.