Lady Devils fall short of District title
Late flurry gives McCort its second win over B-A this season
The Bellwood-Antis girl’s basketball team, although losing to Bishop McCort, will play Northern Bedford in the state playoffs.
March 6, 2017
Friday night was the biggest game of the year for the Lady Blue Devils, who traveled to Saint Francis University to take on the Lady Crushers of Bishop McCort.
The Lady Devils found themselves in a heated shootout but fell to the Crushers 60-58 in the final seconds of the District 6 2A finals after Karson Swogger’s long desperation three was just short of winning the game for the Lady Blue Devils.
Degol Arena was full of tension as the game came down to the final minutes. With the score tied at 58-58, the ball was in the hands of Swogger, who was holding for the last shot for the Lady Devils.
Swogger drove the lane, creating a lot of contact, but got no foul call. With just over 8 seconds Bishop McCort’s Haley Thomas was able to go coast to coast, drawling a shooting foul with 3.8 seconds left on the clock.
Thomas calmly sank both free throws, to finish 10-10 from the line. B-A trailed by two points and had one last hope, which was just not enough.
Freshman Alli Campbell was hitting shots from all over the court as she netted 28 points. Swogger added 19 points herself to combine with Campbell for 47 of the teams 58.
The first quarter was all in favor for the Lady Devils as they had the biggest lead of the game at 8, leading 14-6.
A patient and consistent Bishop McCort offense was able to cut that lead quickly, tying the game up when they needed to all night.
B-A would only trail a few times by a small deficit of no more than four points throughout the remainder of contest. After a second quarter of both teams trading baskets each time down the court, B-A went into the half up 40-36.
Bishop McCort came out quick in the third and cut that lead to two points.
Both teams ground out ten points through the third quarter, including a half court heave by Campbell at the buzzer to put B-A up four points to close out the quarter.
The Lady Devils look to make a run in the PIAA playoffs starting this Friday at Tyrone Area High School against Northern Bedford.
