That was written on a sign held up by the Lady Dragons while celebrating their 71-64 overtime win over Elizabeth Forward on Saturday in a PIAA first-round game at Warren Area High School.

Despite six straight trips to the PIAA playoffs, and seven since Warren’s first of four District 10 championships since 2016, this was the Dragons’ first state playoff win.

Thus the emotions from a team whose seniors had lost three straight PIAA playoff games — even with multiple Region 5 and D10 titles in four years.

Thus the sign, which wasn’t made just before Saturday’s game, by the way.

Lady Dragons, from left, Adison Cullers (2), Alyssa Farr (5), Alana Stuart, and Halle Kuzminski (4) celebrate after they defeated Elizabeth Forward (Pittsburgh), 71-64, in overtime on Saturday at Warren Area High School for their first-ever PIAA playoff win in program history. Photo courtesy of Mark Evans

“My mom made it three years ago,” said 16-year Warren head coach Lisa LaVan. “Just kept at it year after year.”

Warren’s motivation was real, even when Elizabeth Forward scored the first seven points of the second quarter to lead 19-7.

Warren’s Sammie Ruhlman scored 6 second-quarter points, Halle Kuzminski and Alana Stuart 4 apiece, Peyton Wotorson hit a 3-pointer, and Meea Irwin a bucket to cut the halftime deficit to 4 points.

Ruhlman and Stuart hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third to give Warren its first lead of the game, 32-30. EF retook the lead and led by 5 points after three quarters.

The Warriors had an 8-point advantage with five-and-a-half minutes to play in regulation. Warren frantically cut the lead to four, 52-48, with just under four minutes to go. Kuzminski hit a pair of free throws to make it a 2-point game. After a turnover, Kuzminski then made a shot from the post to tie the game at 52-52.

Both teams were trading blows as Clarion University-commit Alyssa Terza’s layup and Kaelyn Settles’ free throw put EF back up by three with under two minutes to go.

Stuart and Wotorson combined to go 3 of 4 from the free throw line to tie it back up with a minute left.

Michelle Jellison’s free throws with 23 seconds left put the Warriors ahead again, 57-55.

With 9.5 seconds left in regulation, Kuzminski was fouled going to the basket and sank both for a 57-57 tie. Jellison’s desperation three to win it for EF was off the mark to force overtime.

“The biggest key to the comeback was to crank up the energy when we pressed them,” said Kuzminski, a senior committed to play at Penn State Altoona. “We caused them to turn over the ball and that helped us offensively. We had to make them uncomfortable, which we did… I didn’t feel worried. As a basketball player, these are the moments you live for. I knew how much the team wanted this win. We played with confidence, trusted each other, and had tons of energy. I knew that game was going to be ours.”

The Dragons played overtime like their hair was on fire, blasting out to a 12-1 run en route to the victory.

“We wanted this to be a track meet,” said LaVan, whose Dragons are 21-5 on the season. “We knew we were in better shape and we knew they lacked depth. All our film studying showed the pace was going to be important. We wanted to push and push, and we did… Going into OT, the plan was simple, step on their throats. We knew we had them in foul trouble and we knew they were tired.”

Kuzminski made a pair of free throws, and Farr followed with a driving layup to push the lead to three, 61-58. Kuzminski and EF’s Terza then got tangled up going after a loose ball. Terza, who led the Warriors with 15 points in regulation, was called for a foul on the play. She was given a technical foul after the play to foul out with 2:25 left in overtime. Kuzminski went 1 for 2 for the foul, and Ruhlman 2 for 2 for the technical to put Warren up by 6 points. With Warren also getting the ball back, Ruhlman made a layup off the inbounds pass for a 66-58 lead.

Wotorson made a bucket in transition for Warren, and a Ruhlman free throw ended Warren’s 12-0 run.

EF didn’t score again until 40 seconds left in OT. WPIAL’s third-seeded Warriors’ season ends at 22-4. Warren advances to play WPIAL champion North Catholic (18-7) in the round of 16 at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Edinboro University’s McComb Field House.

North Catholic ended Elizabeth Forward’s 19-game winning streak with a 42-34 win in the District 7 4A semifinals. The Trojanettes went on to win their third WPIAL title in a row and 23rd in school history.

Warren’s girls basketball team lost its first District 10 championship game — 28-26 to Fairview, but qualified for states as the D10 Class 4A second seed. Warren has won four D10 titles since 2016.

“This team was devastated about losing in the D10 championship game, but we knew like anything in life, we needed to move on,” said Coach LaVan. “We talked this week, one by one, about what we wish we had done better. We talked about the regret of that game. We then finished on what we did well and how we were going to build on that devastating loss. That is why we delivered today. We learned. We grew. We got after it.”

The Dragons made 8 of 11 free throws in the overtime period, and finished 26 for 38 in the game. Ruhlman had 5 of her 17 points in Warren’s 14-7 overtime. She was 7 of 8 at the free throw line and had 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Stuart finished with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and had 7 points in the fourth-quarter comeback. Kuzminski finished with 15 points, including 9 of 10 at the line, and 8 rebounds. Farr scored 4 of her 7 points in OT. Meea Irwin finished with 8 points before fouling out, and Wotorson added 7 more in the game. Stuart and Irwin had 4 steals each for Warren.

“The foul bug hit us first when we lost Meea late in the fourth, but Peyton stepped up in a big way,” said LaVan.

In addition to Terza’s 15, Zombek added 14 points for EF and Jellison 13, but the trio was held to one bucket by Zombek in the overtime.

“The team worked non-stop this season for three goals, Region 5 champs, D10 champs, and a state playoff game,” said Warren’s Ruhlman, a senior committed to D’Youville University. “Obviously, we fell short of D10, but to be able to come back and accomplish this is fantastic. It’s relieving to know our hard work paid off. And, for the program, this is huge. We not only did it for ourselves, but we did it for the girls in past years who fell short of this goal. To be able to do this after overcoming lots this season is so rewarding, and like I said, hard work pays off. In the past three games, we have had to overcome big leads like that, but it never scared me because I knew we believed in ourselves, and our community and fans believed in us more than I can ever imagine. From the start, it was a game of who wanted it more, and I think we showed how much we wanted this.”

EF (64)

Settles 2 5 9, Zombek 5 2 14, Sostaric 2 0 4, Cegelski 0, Bickerton 0, Ondik 0, Jellison 4 5 13, Terza 6 2 15, Dawson 0, Bittner 0 1 1, Nigut 2 2 8. Totals 21 17-25 64.

WARREN (71)

Ruhlman 4 7 17, Kuzminski 3 9 15, Farr 2 2 7, Roell 0, Stuart 6 2 17, Wotorson 2 2 7, Irwin 2 4 8, Barney 0. Totals 19 26-38 71.

3-pointers: Zombek 2, Terza, Nigut 2, Ruhlman 2, Farr, Stuart 3, Wotorson.

Elizabeth Forward 12 18 16 11 7 — 64

Warren 7 19 15 16 14 — 71