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Lady Dragons ready for Round 3 vs. GM in D-10 semis

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.

It’s Warren-General McLane, Round 3 at the Hagerty Events Center (6 p.m.), and this one is for a berth in the District 10 Class 5A championships game.

The two previous games were both wins for the Lady Dragons – 54-49 on Jan. 10 at Warren and 64-58 on Feb. 2 at GM.

In that first game, Warren (20-3) had to rally in the fourth quarter, outscoring GM (17-6) 14-8 in the final eight minutes. The second meeting was much different, with the Lady Dragons jumping out to a 24-12 lead after the first quarter. And while the final score was close, Warren was pretty much in control throughout.

In that second meeting, freshman guard Riley Childress exploded for a career-high 26 points.

“It’s a perfect matchup for Riley,” coach Lisa LaVan said after that game. “She drew a lot of attention with Margo being double-teamed.”

Margo is, of course, Margo Loutzenhiser, who averaged 22.5 points per game in the two meetings against the Lancers this season.

Her numbers over her last three playoff games dating back to last season or astounding – 31 points per game.

Emma Ruhlman, Warren’s second-leading scorer, took on more of a defensive role in that contest.

Ruhlman had a great playoff debut, scoring 14 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.

Alanna Hultberg and Taylor Childress were their reliable selves in the win over Meadville on Saturday, playing key roles in a great defensive effort in the second half., as did Teagan Paris.

The re-emergence of Kelsey Stuart could be something to watch out for.

After battling through injuries for a good bit of the season, Stuart looks healthy now and it showed, as she hit a pair of 3’s and scored eight points on Saturday.

“She’s in a really good spot right now,” LaVan said.

GM was impressive in its 55-34 quarterfinal win over a 17-win Grove City team, going on a 19-0 run in the second quarter.

In that game, Kayle Seidel (5-8 soph.), Hanna Pfeiffer (5-7 Sr.) and Kendyl McKissock (5-9 Sr.) were all above their season averages in scoring, all posting double-digit totals.

Leading scorer and Point Park commit Sierra Seneta (5-8 Sr.) was quiet by her standards, but the good news for GM is that they dominated a quality Grove City squad as a team.

It’s a Lancer team that is senior-laden and certainly won’t be intimidated by Warren.

But the Lady Dragons are battle-tested, driven and extremely motivated.

“We are so battle-tested it’s not even funny,” Lavan said after a game against Mercyhurst Prep on Feb. 9 that capped a 4-game stretch in eight days that saw them play GM, Villa, Harbor Creek and Mercyhurst.

That’s arguably as tough a stretch as any team in D-10 faced this season.

So yes, there’s familiarity. There’s also playoff experience and big-time players who have played in a lot of big-time games.

In short, it has all the making of a worthy district semifinal.

And while the loser won’t see their season end (D-10 takes three teams to states), neither team is even thinking about that.

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

– – –

Slippery Rock (18-4) vs. Hickory (15-7)

Where: Sharon High School, 7:30 p.m.

Winner gets: Warren-General McLane winner in title game on Saturday. Loser will play in third place game

How they got here: Slippery Rock – Beat Corry 64-20 in quarterfinals; Hickory – Beat Harbor Creek 47-40 in quarterfinals

The story: Hickory, playing with a ton of emotion, is coming off a win over Harbor Creek that was a surprise to many. Sydney McKnight scored 18 points in the win and Karrington McKnight 15. Slippery Rock, meanwhile, had a much different quarterfinal game, rolling, as expected, against Corry. In that game, Anna Kadlubek and Maryann Ackerman scored 17 points each and Emma McDermott 11.

The two teams, like Warren and GM, met twice during the season, and they couldn’t have been more different. Slippery Rock dominated in the first meeting on their home court, 74-35. The second time, however, was a 52-42 win for the Hornets.

So, while Slippery Rock is the favorite, Hickory is riding a wave of momentum into this game that can’t be discounted.

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