DANVILLE - Mount Carmel may see better teams down the playoff stretch than South Williamsport but its's doubtful whether the Red Tornadoes will see any better players than the Mounties' Tierney Pfirman.
On the other hand, the Mounties might not see a better team than the Red Tornadoes, who advanced to their second straight District 4-AA championship game and remained undefeated Tuesday with a 70-64 win over South Williamsport in a semifinal game at Danville. Mount Carmel (24-0) will play Wyalusing for the championship at a site and time to be determined, and South Williamsport (20-4), which has three of its four losses to Mount Carmel, will play in the consolation game against Sayre for the right to advance to the state playoffs. Wyalusing defeated Sayre 36-34 in the other semifinal.
Pfirman scored 25 points, had 17 rebounds and four blocked shots, and when her teammate Jamie Steer scored a basket late in the first half, Steer became the fourth player on the court with 1,000 career points. Pfirman has more than 2,200.
But Mount Carmel's two 1,000-point scorers, Ranotta Ahrensfield and Kim Andruscavage, had great games as well, and the Red Tornadoes just had more overall talent.
Ahrensfield had a double-double of her own, with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Andruscavage had 20 points, six rebounds and five steals.
Ahrensfield had a solid game on the boards, getting good position all game.
"She's been doing that for four years," said South Williamsport coach Mike Allison. ""You can't teach girls to rebound like that. They just know how to get that position."
"Both of them have taken turns leading the team during the season, and they're seniors and they don't want to lose," said Mount Carmel coach Lisa Varano. "I'm proud of both of them and everyone who played tonight. They (South Williamsport) are a great team. They weren't going to let us win without a fight."
Mount Carmel built a nine-point halftime lead, 34-25, by forcing the Mounties into 15 turnovers in the half, including 10 in the first quarter, and South had a brutal 4-for-18 shooting quarter in the second. South Williamsport turned the ball over 26 times for the game.
"They know what we have and we know what they have," said Varano. "I thought in the second quarter we really played aggressive defense and that allowed us to build the lead a little."
Ahrensfield said the key to playing defense against Pfirman is to help each other.
"You just have to yell at each other and let each other know when she's coming through because she likes to run so much," said Ahrensfield. "At first, when I was guarding her, she pulled me away from the basket because she likes to go out so far, but when we put Ali (Varano) on her. I was able to move underneath and rebound more."
South Williamsport closed the gap to 50-45 after three quarters but Mount Carmel gradually built a double-digit lead again at 61-49. But after Steer fouled out, with 17 points, Pfirman began to take over and also got some help from the other Mounties. She hit consecutive baskets, including a 3-pointer to cut the lead back down to 66-60 with 38 seconds left. But Ahrensfield and Andruscavage combined to make four foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.
Game Summary
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT (64) - Reasner 1 2-2 4, Laird 1 0-0 2, Pfirman 12 0-0 25, Green 0 0-0 0, Steer 7 3-4 17, Jackson 5 1-3 11, March 2 1-5 5, Wein 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 7-14 64.
MOUNT CARMEL (70) - Bolick 5 1-4 12, Varano 1 4-6 6, Raybuck 4 0-0 8, Ahrensfield 7 6-10 20, Andruscavage 8 4-5 20, Hornung 0 0-0 0, Shamus 2 0-0 4. Totals 27 15-21 70.
SW 14 11 20 19 - 64
MCA 15 19 16 20 - 70
3-point FGs: South Williamsport (1) - Pfirman; Mount Carmel (1) - Bolick.