Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – While it wasn’t their best shooting performance, an 18-point third-quarter outburst helped Warren extend a 3-point halftime lead to a 12-point margin in a 43-31 win over visiting General McLane Monday.
The Dragons (14-3 overall, 7-1 Region 6) struggled from the field against a physical Lancers (6-11, 2-6) defense. It took more than 2:30 before Warren got its first points on the board and the Dragons connected on just two 3-pointers (they averaged nearly five per game coming in).
“I think it was definitely just one of those nights,” Warren coach Lisa LaVan said. “I mean, we know that we have shooters and yeah, we just were off a little tonight on those. Hats off to General McLane, they played us much better this time than they did last time.”
Warren got out to a 9-0 lead late in the first quarter and led 11-4 after the first eight minutes of play.
The Dragons pushed the lead back to nine, 15-6, thanks to a Riley Childress runner, but GM’s Libby Opp answered with a three to keep it a 2-score game with just over five minutes to play in the half. Opp connected from beyond the arc again with three minutes left to make it a 3-point game, 17-14.
Each team got one more field goal before the half as Warren held a 19-16 advantage at the break.
Interestingly, with as physical as the contest was from start to finish, neither team attempted a free throw through the first 16 minutes.
“The second time you go on anybody, it’s always different,” LaVan said. “You know, we all scout each other. We all work really hard on our game plans. I mean, just, you know, our region by far, I’ll continue to say, is the hardest region in girls basketball without a doubt, team for team.”
Though Warren wasn’t able to connect as often on the long ball, the Dragons were able to generate a pair of traditional 3-point plays in the third quarter.
Gracie Ruhlman opened the scoring with one, then Emma Ruhlman was able to complete another later in the period. The two combined for 16 of Warren’s 18 points in the frame, including going 5-7 from the free throw line.
“I think Gracie got ticked off early on and when that girl gets mad, she plays really hard,” LaVan said.
Emma Ruhlman closed out the quarter with a 3-pointer to give Warren a 37-25 heading to the fourth.
Childress had four of Warren’s six fourth-quarter points with a field goal and a pair of free throws. Emma Ruhlman also knocked down a pair of free throws in the period.
Emma Ruhlman finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Those totals also gave her another pair of career milestones as she went over 1,300 total career points and has more than 800 career rebounds to her resume.
“She just continues to grind things out and just find ways to do the little things that we need her to do,” LaVan said. “I mean, we all know she can score but she brings a factor to us with the rebounding ability.”
Childress and Gracie Ruhlman each finished with 10 points, while Gracie Ruhlman also collected eight rebounds. Halle Kuzminski led the team with nine boards.
Opp had a team-high 14 points for the Lancers. Payton Massey finished with six and Louisa Opp and Kiley Leasure with four each.
