Lady Warriors upend Beaver, advance to semifinals
Joselyn Dawson got a second chance and cashed in on it.
As a result, Elizabeth Forward moved into the WPIAL Class AAAA girls basketball semifinals for the second time in four years with a 46-42 victory at fourth-seeded Beaver Area on Friday night.
The Lady Warriors were clinging to a two-point lead with less than a 45 seconds to play when Dawson was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one.
The Lady Bobcats (16-6) gathered in the rebound and worked to try to get a tying or go-ahead basket when the EF defense forced a turnover. Once again Dawson was fouled.
This time, again facing a one-and-one, the junior dropped in both shots with nine seconds left.
“That was huge,” EF coach Krystal Gibbs said. “That made it a four-point game and pretty much sealed it for us. It was nice to see Joselyn bounce back and make those.”
After Beaver’s Payton List missed a long jump the final seconds ticked off and Elizabeth Forward was on its way to the WPIAL final four and the PIAA tournament.
The Lady Warriors (19-4) will play top-seeded and undefeated Blackhawk in the semifinals on Tuesday with the site and time to be determined.
Dawson wound up with a team-high 13 points. Bailie Brinson followed with 10 points and Haven Briggs added nine points for EF.
List, a senior, scored a game-high 22 points for Beaver and sophomore sister Chloe List had eight points.
Elizabeth Forward took control early on.
After falling behind 3-0 the Lady Warriors outscored Beaver 17-5 the rest of the first quarter and never trailed again. The Lady Bobcats pulled even once, at 21-21 late in the first half, but Briggs ended the second quarter as she did the first quarter, with a 3-pointer, and the visitors went into halftime up 24-21.
The Lady Warriors nudged their advantage out to 38-32 after three quarters and held off Beaver down the stretch.
“I give our girls credit,” said Gibbs whose team battled foul trouble most of the night. “It’s hard to win on the road because of several factors. I will say that Beaver didn’t have a foul called on them the entire third quarter and we went two more minutes into the fourth quarter before they called the first foul of the second half on them.
“So, you know, situations like that … I was proud the way our girls hung in there.”
The most important factor in Elizabeth Forward’s victory was defense, according to Gibbs.
“That’s really our key,” Gibbs said. “That’s the way I coach. I’m more defensive-minded. That saying of offense wins games, defense wins championships, I live by that.
“I think our defense was really good tonight. Obviously, the List sisters are very, very good so we had to make sure we managed them, especially the older one (Payton) and keep her off the boards and try to limit her scoring and I think we did well with that for the most part.”
The victory was a bit of revenge for Elizabeth Forward which was eliminated by the Lady Bobcats in the postseason last year, 49-36.
“We lost to Beaver last year in the same round,” Gibbs recalled. “They were the No. 1 seed and we held them down and stayed in that game. I think we’re a little bit better of a team this year because of the depth we have.”
The Lady Warriors also have experience. Starters Briggs, Brinson and Brooke Markland all played for Gibbs as freshmen three years ago when EF also reached the district semifinals and the state playoffs.
“Those three and Joselyn (a junior) are my captains,” Gibbs said. “They work together really well as leaders.
“It’s more than just experience, it’s also the culture we have here that’s driving these girls,” Gibbs said. “And you have families of kids. I have Bailie Brinson, and Bre Brinson and Alyssa Brinson were both part of my other two teams that went to the semis since I’ve been coaching. You have Haven Briggs and I had Haylee Briggs before who was on a semifinal team.”
The Lady Warriors didn’t draw as much attention during the regular season than two of their Section 3 foes, first-place and second-seeded Southmoreland and third-place Belle Vernon, especially after the Lady Leopards upset the Lady Scotties in their first meeting.
“When Belle Vernon beat Southmoreland, that was big and everyone was like wow,” Gibbs said. “Then Southmoreland kind of took over again and we were in there all along kind of going unnoticed. We beat Belle Vernon twice and wound up second.
“But I like flying under the radar. No one expects anything from you so when you knock teams off it’s even better.”