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Dominating start: Lady Dragons begin postseason with big win over Meadville

Warren freshman Emma Ruhlman is fouled by Meadville’s Hanah Simmons as she goes up for a shot during the second half of Saturday’s District 10 5A quarterfinal game at the Hagerty Events Center. Ruhlman had 14 points and 13 rebounds as the Lady Dragons rolled to a 63-35 win.

ERIE, Pa. – Nothing to it.

The Warren Lady Dragons, after receiving an early test against underdog Meadville in the District 10 Class 5A quarterfinals, turned in a dominating second half, rolling to a 63-35 win at the Hagerty Family Events Center on Saturday.

“It’s always good to get a win and this will just continue to give us momentum,” said senior guard Margo Loutzenhiser, who poured in a game-high 28 points.

Meadville actually led at one point in the first quarter, 10-6, and the lead for Warren was just single digits at halftime, 32-23.

After halftime, however, it was game over.

Warren freshman Riley Childress goes in for a layup while being defended by Meadville’s Abby Miller during the first half of Saturday’s D-10 Class 5A quarterfinal game. Childress had 9 points and 8 steals in helping the Lady Dragons to victory.

“We settled in a little bit. They were shooting well and they were geeked up,” said Warren coach Lisa LaVan. “I knew they were going to give us a game early on. They weren’t going to roll over. We just made some adjustments at halftime. We talked about our defense and things we needed to do better.”

That defensive effort was spearheaded by freshman point guard Riley Childress, who finished the game with eight steals in her playoff debut.

A large part of that responsibility also fell on Loutzenhiser.

“It was cool because we were away from Lisa so she told me to call the defenses,” Loutzenhiser said. “It was cool to be on our own a little bit.”

Added her coach: “The hardest part in coaching is when the defense is on the other end in the second half. That drives me insane because we’re a defensive-focused team. Margo did a nice job of calling out the defense. She loves doing that.”

Warren senior Margo Loutzenhiser surveys the defense while being guarded by Meadville’s Natalia Fontanez-Waid during the first half of Saturday’s District 10 Class 5A quarterfinal game at the Hagerty Events Center in Erie. Loutzenhiser poured in a game-high 28 points to lead the Lady Dragons to victory. In her last three playoff games dating back to last season, Loutzenhiser is averaging 31.0 ppg. With this win, Warren advances to play General McLane in the semifinals at the same location on Wednesday. The two teams met twice during the regular season, a pair of Warren victories.

Not only was the defense stifling in the second half, forcing more Meadville turnovers (13) than the Bulldogs had points (12), the offense was firing on all cylinders.

A pair of free throws by Loutzenhiser gave Warren its first double-digit lead of the game, 38-27 at the 5:06 mark of the third.

From there, it just kept growing.

Freshman Emma Ruhlman, also making her playoff debut, followed with back-to-back buckets, part of a 14-point, 13-rebound effort, with 10 of those points coming in the second half.

A layup by Alanna Hultberg made it 50-31 early in the fourth, at which point the Lady Dragons were in cruise control.

Warren junior Taylor Childress (1) battles for a loose ball with Meadville’s Tye Johnson during the first half of Saturday’s District 10 Class 5A quarterfinal game. Childress and the Lady Dragons rolled to a 63-35 win.

Loutzenhiser, who had 7 assists, as well as Childress, did a great job of facilitating the offense.

“Any time you can have your 2-guard, who’s really, in essence, a point guard … Riley’s phenomenal, but to have Margo with her is great. The two of them do a nice job together kind of directing traffic and doing what they need to do,” LaVan said. “For a freshman, Riley sees the floor so well. She just picks defenses apart and did a nice job of that tonight.”

The game also featured the return of sophomore Kelsey Stuart, who has missed some time due to injury. All she did was come off the bench and score eight points.

“She’s a threat. She struggled all year with injury stuff and she’s in a really good place right now,” noted LaVan. “The first thing I told her after the game was welcome home. We’re glad to have you back. We shut her down for a while, a good three weeks just to try and get her well and she’s in a really good spot right now.”

With the game well in hand, every single Dragon was able to get on the court as well.

The Warren bench reacts after a made 3-pointer by Kelsey Stuart during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s D-10 quarterfinal win against Meadville. The Lady Dragons battle General McLane today for a spot in the D-10 title game.

“We always say we’re not about five kids, six kids, we’re 15 people and 15 strong,” LaVan said. “They’re in the game and they’re excited and they deserve to get in when we can get them in. They work hard, for scout, they work their butts off. They had us ready.”

Early in the game, Warren had to withstand an offensive onslaught from Meadville’s Jaida Speed, who scored 13 of her team-high 17 points in the first half.

Her strong drive gave Meadville that early 10-6 advantage, before Warren responded with an 11-2 run to close the quarter, capped by a steal and layup from Childress.

“We knew they were going to come out and get after it,” Loutzenhiser said. “I think we were a little surprised when their one girl came out on fire.”

Back-to-back buckets to start the second quarter by Speed got Meadville back within 1, 17-16, but Loutzenhiser and Stuart followed with consecutive 3’s.

Childress had another easy attempt off a steal, but, in about the only thing that didn’t go right for the young guard, it spun out. No matter, as her older sister Taylor was there for the putback.

And even though the lead was only 9 at the half, the dam felt like it was about to break. And it did.

“We came out after halftime and really took the wind out of their sails,” Loutzenhiser said. “Honestly, we stuck with the same game plan. We didn’t think she (Speed) was going to stay hot. We were just kind of like, what we’re doing, we’re doing all right and they aren’t going to keep shooting this same percentage in the second half. We just stuck to the game plan.”

Ruhlman also had four assists to go along with her double-double and Loutzenhiser added five steals.

Up next for Warren it Round 3 with General McLane in the semifinals, after the Lancers blew out Grove City, 55-34.

“We’re at the point right now where we could care less who we play,” LaVan said. “Just bring it on. GM is going to be ready for us, but we’ll be ready back, for sure.”

– – –

MEADVILLE (35)

Fontanez-Waid 3-0-0-7, Miller 1-0-1-2, Simmons 1-0-0-2, Speed 7-2-9-17, Gilbert 2-0-0-5, Johnson 0-0-0-0, Longo 1-0-0-2, Totals 15-2-10-35

WARREN (63)

T. Childress 1-0-0-2, Hultberg 1-0-2-2, R. Childress 3-2-2-9, Ruhlman 4-6-8-14, Loutzenhiser 8-11-12-28, Stuart 3-0-0-8, Paris 0-0-0-0, Matson 0-0-0-0, Madigan 0-0-0-0, Mineweaser 0-0-0-0, Walker 0-0-0-0, Bowman 0-0-0-0, Kraft 0-0-0-0, Munksgard 0-0-0-0, Albaugh 0-0-0-0, Totals 20-19-24-63

By Quarters

Meadville 12 11 8 4 – 35

Warren 17 15 15 16 – 63

Three-point FGs: Meadville (3) – Fontanez-Waid, Gilbert, Speed; Warren (4) – Stuart 2, R. Childress, Loutzenhiser

– – –

Saturday’s other District 10 5A Girls Quarterfinal Games

GENERAL McLANE 55, GROVE CITY 34

FARRELL, Pa. – General McLane went on a 19-0 run in the second quarter to pull away for a 55-34 win over Grove City in the 5A quarterfinals.

The Lancers (17-6) had three players in double figures, led by Kayle Seidel, who made three 3’s en route to a 15-point effort. Hanna Pfeiffer had 13 points and Kendyl McKissock 12.

Clara Hannon, Abby Biddle and Katie McDowell all had eight points to pace GC (17-5).

With the win, GM moves on to play Warren for a third time in the semifinals. The Dragons won both meetings during the regular season, 54-49 on Jan. 10 and 64-48 on Feb. 2.

– – –

HICKORY 47, HARBOR CREEK 40

ERIE, Pa. – In perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend in District 10, Hickory knocked off Harbor Creek, thanks to a combined 33 points from Sydney and Karrington McKnight.

Hickory (15-7), which led by 1 at the half, built that lead to as much as 13 in the fourth quarter.

Latisha Baker scored 16 points and kept Harbor Creek (17-6) in the game through three quarters.

Gannon recruit Ali Benim was held to just six points through three quarters. She came alive late, burying three 3’s in the fourth quarter to try and rally her team back. She finished with 18 points.

Jenna Babay, HC’s second-leading scorer at 10.7 points per game, was held to just

– – –

SLIPPERY ROCK 64, CORRY 20

FARRELL, Pa. – Maryann Ackerman and Anna Kadlubek scored 17 points each as Slippery Rock rolled past Corry.

The Rockets (18-4) will meet Hickory, who they split with during the regular season, in the semifinals.

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