By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
KANE, PA – In their first playoff appearance in half a decade, the Bradford girls’ basketball team were eliminated by St. Marys in the District 9 Class 4A semifinals after being unable to overcome a third-quarter surge.
Over the past few years, the Lady Owls have been slowly piecing together a rebuild. After gradually progressing and stringing more wins together each season, the hard work finally paid off in their first postseason berth since 2020.
“I think this is just the start of something that’s going to be continuing for the next several years,” said first-year head coach Jason Blatchley. “I think the senior class going out like this, getting to the playoffs, earning the playoffs, we had a great season.”
Ending at 10-11, Bradford secured the third seed in the 4A bracket, earning another rematch with the defending champions St. Marys. Through two meetings with the Lady Dutch (12-11), Bradford split the season series, winning 38-33 on Jan. 3 and losing 54-19 on Jan. 29. With St. Marys coming in as the battle-tested veteran program and Bradford entering as the ascending prospect, the third meeting between these squads came with a finals berth on the table.
The Lady Owls led with defense, implementing a 2-3 zone that jammed up the Lady Dutch at every turn. On offense, they turned to their star forward, Hayley Keane, who scored out of the post on Bradford’s first possession. However, things wouldn’t come easily from then on for either team.
The Lady Owls would find scattered scoring as they leaned on Keane for pick-and-roll opportunities but struggled to string together consecutive baskets. Relegated to the 3-point line, St. Marys’ meticulous approach to the opposing zone would eventually find enough room for a few made 3-pointers as they kept in stride with Bradford. Following a successful and-one from Keane, the Lady Dutch would retaliate with a buzzer beating 3-pointer, tying the game at 9 after the first eight minutes of play.
Although Bradford would take back the lead with a steal and fast break score on the second possession of the second quarter, their grasp wouldn’t last long. Another Lady Dutch 3-pointer would put them ahead once again and spark six unanswered points. Now holding a lead, St. Marys became noticeably more comfortable against the zone defense as they patiently looked for open looks.
In the meantime, the Lady Owls began struggling to maintain possession. Caused either by sloppy passes or pesky Lady Dutch defenders, Bradford gave up multiple turnovers as they went scoreless for four minutes.
Around the two-minute mark, the Lady Owls would end the drought with a steal from Keane and a jump shot from Maranda Davis. Forcing a turnover on the Lady Dutch’s ensuing possession, Keane would tie the game with a post jumper with just over a minute left. However, as they did in the first quarter, St. Marys would find luck in the final seconds, nailing another buzzer beater to pull ahead by two points going into the break.
The Lady Dutch would begin to pull away in the third quarter. Similar to the previous quarter, Bradford would score early – a steal and offensive rebound produced two points and a foul for Alexis Kicior – before falling into another dry spell. Turnovers continued to pile up as St. Marys managed to knock down a pair of shots from beyond the arc and draw their lead out to five.
Alexis Kicior drives past a defender during Bradford’s loss to the Lady Dutch in the Class 4A playoffs. Kicior ended with five points in the Lady Owls’ final game. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
After a scoreless last four minutes for the Lady Owls, they found themselves down seven with just one quarter left.
Unfortunately for Bradford, their scoring drought would carry over into the fourth quarter. Although they were able to withhold the Lady Dutch from the scoreboard, the Lady Owls failed to see a shot go in for nine consecutive minutes, a stretch broken by a Mackenzie triple with three minutes remaining. And while that made shot sparked some life into both the Lady Owls and their fans, St. Marys was poised to kill their momentum.
Physical play from Bradford early in the period came back to haunt them as the Lady Dutch earned a spot in the bonus just as the momentum seemed to be switching hands.
“We cut it to five but just couldn’t get over that hump,” said Blatchley. “St. Marys is really good though, they moved the ball, knocked down some shots and made their free throws coming down the stretch. We just couldn’t get over that hump.”
Watching their opponents close the game out at the free throw line, Bradford’s season had met it’s end.
In the Lady Owls’ final game, Keane led in scoring with nine points, followed by Taylor with eight and Kicior with five.
“It was a great year. We won the Kane tournament, we had two overtime wins and won nine quality games against 10 teams that are in the playoffs,” said Blatchley. “In my eyes, it was a really great year.”
AT KANE
Bradford (27)
Keane 3 3-3 9, Taylor 3 0-0 8, Kicior 2 1-3 5, Davis 1 0-0 2, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Craig 0 1-2 1. Totals: 10 5-8 27
St. Marys (37)
Garnati 3 3-6 11, Beck 3 2-2 10, Hanslovan 2 1-2 6, Braun 1 1-2 4, Surra 1 0-0 3, Caskey 0 3-4 3. Totals: 10 10-16 37
Bradford 9 15 19 27
St. Marys 9 17 26 37
Three-point goals: BRD (2) Taylor 2, SMA (7) Garnati 2, Beck 2, Hanslovan, Surra, Braun; Total fouls: BRD 13, SMA 9; fouled out: None.
