Warren’s girls became the third team in two days to struggle offensively in the home of the Oilers, and fell, 53-45, to Grove City in their District 10 Class 5A semifinal game Wednesday. The Youngsville and Warren boys teams lost semifinal games at Oil City Tuesday.

“We just couldn’t put the ball in the hole,” Warren coach Lisa LaVan said. “We got tired and made mental mistakes. We just weren’t mentally tough tonight.”

The game started as a defensive slugfest and turned into an offensive explosion late.

Warren (16-8) came out in a zone defensively to start and Grove City (21-3) struggled to adjust. The Dragons, however, weren’t able to take full advantage and led just 4-2 at the end of the first quarter.

Warren’s Teagan Paris battles in the post against Grove City’s Katie McDowell.

“We made them work for everything,” LaVan said.

The Eagles made an adjustment offensively and started to knock down shots in the second quarter. Clara Hannon opened the period with a 3-pointer and Emma Santom followed with a field goal to put Grove City ahead, 7-4. Emma Ruhlman completed a 3-point play on the next possession and Riley Childress turned a stop into a field goal to put Warren back on top, 9-7. Alli Lewis came right back with a bucket for the Eagles, but Ruhlman was there on the other end to knot it back up. Lewis and Ruhlman traded another pair of baskets to make it 13-all with two minutes to play in the half.

“Credit to Coach (Chris) Burtch, he made good adjustments,” LaVan said.

The Dragons appeared to have gotten a stop on the next Eagles possession, but a loose ball bounced right to Hannon at the corner and she knocked down her second three of the half to put Grove City up 16-13. Becca Santom followed with a basket to give the Eagles a five-point lead. Childress hit on the other end to cut it back to 18-15, but Emma Santom connected on a field goal with 13 seconds left in the half to put Grove City up, 20-15, at halftime.

“We didn’t take it at them. We were tentative offensively,” LaVan said.

Warren’s Carly Beers gets set to put up a shot.

Warren came out more aggressively on both ends of the floor to start the second half.

Childress hit on the opening possession and Ruhlman converted a turnover into a bucket to make it a one point game just 1:33 into the half. Katie McDowell put in a layup to stretch the lead to 22-19, but Childress came back with a three to tie it at 22. Lewis came back with a field goal, then went 1-2 from the line to put the Eagles back up 25-22.

“We tried to play a little chess match with them,” LaVan said. “We’re a tough matchup for them, and they’re a tough matchup for us.”

Childress hit a bucket, then Ruhlman came with another to give Warren a 26-25 advantage with 2:33 to go in the third. It was the first time the Dragons led since being up 9-7 with 5:31 to go in the second quarter.

Warren held the lead for the next 1:37, and lost it on a missed call.

Warren’s Taylor Childress smiles as she encourages her teammates.

With just over a minute to go in the third, Emma Santom dribbled the ball into the corner. She picked up the dribble to look for an outlet pass. Not finding anyone and the 5-count up to 4, she dribbled the baseline and scored. The double dribble was called by every “official” in the home stands, but not on the court.

The basket counted and Grove City had a 27-26 lead.

Childress put Warren back on top on the next possession, but Becca Santom’s 3-pointer gave the Eagles a 30-28 edge heading to the fourth quarter.

“Our defensive mental strength wasn’t there tonight,” LaVan said. “We’ve got to be mentally strong both offensively and defensively.”

Hannah Reiber opened the fourth quarter with a three to push the lead back to 33-28. Teagan Paris and Lewis traded buckets to make it 35-30 with 6:15 to go. Paris got open underneath and put in the layup to close the gap to 35-32. She had a chance to complete a 3-point play on the next possession, but missed the free throw and Warren trailed, 35-34. The Dragons got the rebound and Ruhlman was fouled. She went to the line with a chance to tie or take the lead, but uncharacteristically went 0-2. Reiber buried another 3-pointer on the other end to give Grove City a 38-34 advantage with 5:13 left.

Warren's Emma Ruhlman scored 22 points and pulled down 10 boards in Saturday's PIAA playoff loss to Chartiers Valley.

“We were down one and missed free throws, then they go down and hit a three,” LaVan said. “That’s a five-point swing.”

The 3-pointer was the first bucket in what became an 11-0 Grove City run. Hannon hit two free throws, then Becca Santom scored the next six Eagles points to put them up 46-34 with 2:14 to go.

Childress hit a three to stop the run, but Grove City broke Warren’s press and McDowell put in a layup to keep the lead in double figures with just under two minutes left. Childress hit a runner with 1:25 left, but McDowell again found herself open under the basket.

“We made some mistakes and rushed a bit,” LaVan said.

Childress connected on another runner and Taylor Childress hit a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left to close the gap to 50-43. Becca Santom answered with a pair of free throws of her own. Ruhlman hit a jumper with 20 seconds to go, but Emma Santom went 1-2 from the line to close out the scoring.

“I can’t stress the mental toughness enough,” LaVan said. “Those little 50/50 balls we didn’t get. We kept mixing defenses, but they adjusted.”

Becca Santom led the Eagles with 17 points. Lewis had nine, Hannon eight and Emma Santom seven in the win.

Riley Childress had a game-high 20 points and four steals. Ruhlman had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and added five assists. Paris added eight points.

Grove City heads to its first District 10 title game in 27 years Saturday. The Eagles will face Slippery Rock.

Warren will play for a berth in the state playoffs against Harbor Creek Saturday at a time and location to be determined. The Dragons split the season series with the Huskies.

“We need to come in with a chip on our shoulder that we’re still a good team,” LaVan said.

GROVE CITY (53)

Hannon 2-2-2-8, Haggart 0-0-0-0, B. Santom 6-4-6-17, E. Santom 3-1-3-7, McDowell 3-0-0-6, Lewis 5-1-2-9, Reiber 3-1-1-6, Wise 0-0-0-0, Totals 20-8-13-53

WARREN (45)

T. Childress 1-2-2-4, R. Childress 9-0-0-20, E. Ruhlman 6-1-5-13, Paris 4-0-0-8, G. Ruhlman 0-0-0-0, Stuart 0-0-0-0, C. Beers 0-0-0-0, Totals 20-3-8-45

By Quarters

Grove City 2 18 10 23 – 53

Warren 4 11 13 17 – 45

Three-point FGs: Grove City (5) – Hannon 2, Reiber 2, B. Santom; Warren (2) – R. Childress 2