By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – Surviving some late-game stumbles and a prayer at the buzzer, the Port Allegany girl’s basketball team defended their home court with a 34-33 win over Cameron County, punching their ticket to the North Tier League Tournament finals.
Since its genesis three years ago, the Lady Gators have made appearances at every NTL Tournament, however, while they held the top seed in the previous two seasons, this year’s berth comes at the conclusion of a 13-3 league campaign that garnered them the second spot in the bracket. Pulling a No. 2 versus No. 4 matchup, the Lady Gators earned another shot against Cam Co, a team they split the regular season meetings with.
“I’m happy with our regular season. Obviously, our goal was to win the league but I thought we competed throughout the year and to finish second is good,” said Port Allegany head coach Jamie Evens. “I thought we worked well, developed over the year, were playing our best basketball here at the end of the year and that was our goal. We’re happy with where we’re at.”
Taking to the court without the help of one of their star seniors, Jenna Renner who was out due to illness, Port’s early effort opened without the much needed fire power. Leaning towards lackadaisical rather than aggressive, they struggled to contend with the Lady Raiders, especially under the boards, as Cam Co quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
As they seemed to simply run through the motions, Port’s offense was hemmed by sloppy passes and missed communication which held them scoreless for the first three minutes of play. However, once Payton Gordon broke the seal with a coast-to-coast layup, the Lady Gators quickly found some footing. Breah Fillhart tacked on another two points with a drive down the baseline before the game’s physicality started to produce trips to the line. Winning the free throw battle in the closing minutes of the first – Port outshot Cam Co 4-for-6 to 1-for-4 through the final two minutes – the Lady Gators managed to erase their early shortcomings to knot the game at 8-8.
Following the brief intermission, Port then looked to make up for lost efforts. Out of the gates, the Lady Gators took a noticeable attack on the glass, crashing in for back-to-back offensive rebounds that garnered an early 5-0 run and their first lead of the night. Protecting their own rim as much as the swarmed the Lady Raiders’, Port cleared the paint as they began to build a lead.
“(Rebounding) was the gameplan coming in. We knew (Cameron County) is physical underneath. We worked on that yesterday in practice and knew we had to rebound today,” said Evens. “We didn’t do a very good job in the first quarter. It hurts not having our second-leading rebounder, Jenna Renner, on both sides of the boards, but it was a gutty effort by our girls to overcome that. I thought we did a great job after the first quarter.”
Unable to plot lanes through the middle as they had in the first quarter, Cam Co settled into a drought. Going without a field goal for over four minutes, the Lady Raiders quietly kept within reach with spotty trips to the charity stripe. Ultimately, they managed to end the dry spell with a steal and score late in the half, but Port quickly rebuilt a five-point lead going into the break thanks to consecutive scores from Gordon.
Despite looking as sure-footed as ever as they entered halftime, the Lady Gators fell back on bad habits returning for the third. Following a turnover on an errant pass, Port watched as the Lady Raiders took a renewed assault on the offensive glass. Out-fighting their opponents for loose balls and second chance opportunities, Cam Co swiftly erased the deficit, then taking a two-point lead with seven unanswered points.
With defensive help taking away their looks into the post, Port’s offense once again disappeared, going without a score for over four and a half minutes of play. However, Gordon continued her duties at the team’s spark plug, scoring on another coast-to-coast layup that started a late, tick-for-tack surge. As the dust settled, the scoreboard was knotted at 23 with one quarter to go.
“The message was to take care of the basketball. We wanted good shots, we wanted to make sure our shot selection was good and that we didn’t turn the ball over,” said Evens. “We were looking to work the ball inside, thinking that we had them in foul trouble a little bit, but also we wanted to make sure people weren’t passing up open shots.”
As the last eight minutes began, so too did the back-and-forth battle for a lead. While Cam Co opened the quarter with a steal and score, Port fired back with six unanswered points only to watch their lead slowly be chipped away as the Lady Raiders exchanged physicality for trips to the free throw line. Trading points as well as the lead, the momentum eluded both as the final buzzer neared.
Having no one else in rhythm to turn to, Port looked to close out the game by leaning on Gordon.
Despite giving up three turnovers in just under two minutes, the Lady Gators emerged at the final minute mostly unscathed, looking up at a slim one-point deficit. As she had done all night, Gordon took the ball just beyond half court, driving the length of the floor and into contact as she came away with a basket and one extra shot at the line. Although she missed the free throw, Port found a defensive stop and another chance at the charity stripe immediately after. Sinking both shots with just 47 seconds remaining, they forced Cam Co to desperation.
Having less than a minute to salvage their season, the Lady Raiders came down the floor and managed to cash in on a deep jumper, cutting the lead to just one. Forced to intentionally foul, they put Port on the line with just 9.9 seconds left, a strategy that paid off as the Lady Gators missed both shots.
Fighting against the clock, Cam Co put up one final shot, however, it failed to draw iron. As the ball bounced off the rim, their season had been decided, ending in the NTL semifinals.
Gordon finished with a game-high 20 points in the win, followed by Jadyn Mahon with six and Fillhart with four.
Surviving and advancing, Port now moves on to the NTL Finals for a matchup against Otto-Eldred, the regular season champions and only team to have swept the Lady Gators. That game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Bradford.
“Honestly, a win or loss doesn’t really matter. The whole point of this tournament is to get some extra action before the playoffs. We haven’t had success in this tournament. The past two years we were the No. 1 seed and lost in the first round both times so it’s nice to make it to Saturday and get that extra game,” said Evens. “And obviously, Otto is some great competition to prepare us for Districts. That’s really our focus going forward. We’re not going to be too concerned about matching up with Otto, we’re going to be working on our stuff and making sure we’re ready for the playoffs.”
AT PORT ALLEGANY
Cameron County (33)
Breslin 2 10-17 14, Hilfiger 2 3-4 7, Clark 3 0-0 6, Earle 2 0-0 4, McAulay 1 0-0 2. Totals: 10 13-21 33
Port Allegany (34)
Gordon 7 6-10 20, Mahon 3 0-0 6, Fillhart 1 2-4 4, Errick 1 0-0 2, Evens 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 8-14 34
Cameron County 8 12 23 33
Port Allegany 8 17 23 34
Three-point goals: CC (0), PA (0); Total fouls: CC 15, PA 16; Fouled out: Magaro (CC), Fillhart (PA).
