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Lady Dragons set for quarterfinal battle with Slippery Rock

Maddie Loutzenhiser

Last season, Warren’s journey to the District 10 class 4A championship required them to win two games.

This year is a different animal with the PIAA moving to six classes. After a first round win over Grove City, the Lady Dragons are set to battle Slippery Rock with a trip to the District 10 Class 5A semifinals and a ticket to the state playoffs on the line.

With a week off in between, it’s been pretty much business as usual in terms of preparation.

“This week, we treated it like any other week,” said coach Lisa LaVan. “We broke it up by doing something other than being in the gym practicing.”

That involved taking a trip to Erie on Wednesday to watch former teammate and current California University of Pennsylvania freshman D.J. Hahn and the Vulcans take on Mercyhurst.

Hahn played a vital role in bringing home the first D-10 title in program history last season and now is playing for a team that is 25-2 and an NCAA Division II national championship contender.

“Going up there and watching D.J. was pretty awesome,” LaVan said.

It was a nice break in between what has been a very detailed week of practice.

“We’ve just been working really hard,” said LaVan. “We’re really focused on the game plan. For this game, because we have never played Slippery Rock, I think having a week of preparation has been really nice to be honest. They’re a good team.”

The Rockets (17-4) are led by the senior trio of 5-11 senior center Sedona Campbell (13.0) and guards Jenna Whitmer (9.4 ppg.) and Steph Croll (8.4 ppg.).

They are a team that, much like Warren, likes to push the tempo.

“On paper we’re very even,” LaVan said. “They try and play the same way we play. They play an up-tempo, quick style. They actually try to go faster and quicker than us. They really push themselves hard on defense to cause turnovers and get easy buckets.

“We’ve been prepping for that all week. Honestly, it’s one of the more even matchups I’ve seen in all my years of doing this. It’s kind of interesting. Slippery Rock almost fits into the north way of how we do things – athletic and like to get up and down the floor. Fort LeBoeuf, Harbor Creek, Central and us are all that way and Slippery Rock fits in with that.”

Warren got off to a slow start against Grove City, but heated up from 3-point range en route to a 17-point win. Margo Loutzenhiser led the way with 17 points, while Rachel Wilson had 13 points and six rebounds and Autumn Hultberg 10 points and six assists.

The Lady Dragons also played their typical stellar defense, led by Maddie Loutzenhiser’s five steals. That defense is a quality that is of the utmost importance this time of year.

It’s a team that has a much different task in terms of their playoff path than last year’s squad.

“This year there’s a little more of an unknown because there are 14 teams vying for that title,” LaVan said. “I would say this team is very focused, very relaxed. It’s kind of always been their nature to be relaxed. But at the same time I think, with the youth there comes some nerves. I always tell them that if you aren’t nervous you might want to check your pulse …. you might be dead.

“Pre-game nerves and even nerves the week before, you do not get a better feeling than that. That is hands down the best feeling in the world. It’s why you play. As nauseating as it is, and as much as on Saturday I probably will not eat a thing, it’s hands down the best feeling in the world.”

This team also had an influx of young players stepping into key roles, with Maddie Loutzenhiser and Wilson the only returning starters. Margo Loutzenhiser stepped into a much more prominent role this season, while Autumn Hultberg, a junior and younger sister Alanna (sophomore) came in and made immediate impacts.

Senior Megan Wortman also saw an increased role, while freshman Taylor Childress and sophomore Gracie Wood have entered the rotation.

“We came in with a lot of newbies and meshing as a team has been our biggest growth,” LaVan said. “The next biggest is communication. It’s really gotten better as the season has gone on. Communication is all about confidence. Having confidence in yourself and your teammates.”

A win would mean a lot of things, with Harbor Creek facing Corry and Girard squaring off with Central on the other half of the bracket.

So what will it take for that to happen?

“We will win if they execute the game plan that we have laid out this week,” LaVan said. “Our coaches and the kids have put a lot of effort into scouting film, because the kids scout film with us. They’ve done in amazing job and if they execute the game plan we will win.”

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