Harbor Creek took advantage of early turnovers to jump ahead, and held off the Lady Dragons 54-44 on Wednesday in the District 10 Class 4A playoff semifinals at the Hagerty Family Events Center.

Harbor Creek (19-5) advances to play Fairview (18-8) on Saturday for the D-10 title.

Warren (17-7) meets Conneaut (15-9) in the 4A consolation game on Saturday at a site and time to be determined. The Dragons beat Conneaut twice — by 16 and 19 points, respectively — in the regular season en route to the Region 5 title. Depending on the outcome, Warren’s first-round opponent at states will be either Blackhawk or North Catholic, which meet on Saturday in the WPIAL (District 7 4A) championship.

Bottom line, the Lady Dragons have to bounce back from Wednesday’s loss.

Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren freshman Meea Irwin powers her way through two Harbor Creek defenders — Brooke Przybylski (2) and Elise Benim (23) — during the Dragons’ 54-44 District 10 4A playoff semifinal loss Wednesday at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie.

“We just made too many mistakes,” said Warren coach Lisa LaVan. “Me as a coach and my players some, too.”

Six different Harbor Creek players scored in a 14-8 first quarter. The Dragons were working from behind the rest of the way.

“Come playoffs, you need to be tighter and make less mistakes than the other team,” said LaVan. “We didn’t do that tonight.”

Harbor Creek pushed a 22-15 halftime lead to 11 points after three quarters.

Warren’s ferocious pace to come back led to 19 fourth-quarter points, but the Huskies nearly matched them in breaking the press and finishing with easy buckets.

“We fell short of our goal,” said LaVan. “However, these girls are tough. They battle and they work for each other. We will continue on and keep working to get better.”

Hannah Smith led the Huskies with 14 points, Elise Benim scored 11, and Georgia Weber and Brooke Przybylski added 9 apiece.

Warren junior point guard Sammie Ruhlman was held to six free throws through three quarters, but finished with 13 points. Freshman teammate Meea Irwin was 7 of 9 at the free-throw line and also finished with 13 points. Junior Halle Kuzminski added 6 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

“Expectations are high every year for this program,” said LaVan. “I love how this team has grown. Time to get back in the gym and prepare for the next one.”

HARBOR CREEK (54)

Przybylski 3 2 9, Weber 4 0 9, Barton 0 0 0, Infantino 0 0 0, Benim 5 0 11, Smith 7 0 14, Zack 2 2 6, King 1 2 5. Totals 22 6 54.

WARREN (44)

SRuhlman 3 6 13, Kuzminski 3 0 6, Farr 1 0 3, Davidson 0 0 0, Stuart 2 0 4, Wotorson 1 1 3, Irwin 3 7 13, GRuhlman 1 0 2. Totals 14 14 44.

3-point goals–Przybylski, Weber, Benim, King, SRuhlman, Farr.

Harbor Creek 14 8 14 18 — 54

Warren 8 7 10 19 — 44