Despite an uncharacteristically tough day offensively Saturday, the Lady Dragons had a chance to tie or win on their last possession. Much like the entire game, Fairview made the last shot difficult and Warren was off the mark in a 28-26 loss to the Tigers in the D10 Class 4A final at Cathedral Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center.

“It was not the best offensive game for us,” said Warren coach Lisa LaVan, whose Dragons teams are now 4-1 in District 10 championship games since 2016, last winning back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. “I have to give some credit to Fairview, though, as they definitely matched up well with us and played well defensively. Taking away (Warren point guard) Sammie (Ruhlman) definitely hurts us as she is the catalyst of running our offense. We worked a lot Thursday and Friday, having others run the offense and find ways to create our points.

“I knew, and we all knew, that ‘Stu’ (junior Alana Stuart) had the matchup on Saturday,” said LaVan. “We kept telling her the last two days that she needs to go off. She did exactly that. We also knew she was finally 100% (health-wise) and ready to go.”

Stuart scored all 6 Warren points in the first quarter to help keep the deficit to two points, 8-6 Fairview after one.

Photo by Mark Evans Warren’s Alana Stuart works her way through three Fairview defenders on Saturday in the Dragons’ 28-26 loss in the District 10 4A championship at Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center.

Fairview 6-foot-1 junior center Breanna Heidt did a nice job guarding Warren senior Halle Kuzminski underneath, holding her to a single bucket in the second quarter. That was the Dragons’ only field goal of the quarter.

Trailing by nine at the half, Warren trimmed the deficit to four, 28-24, heading to the fourth quarter. Stuart went off in the third, scoring 11 points in the Dragons’ 14-9 quarter.

It was downright frustrating from there; both defenses completely took over in the final eight minutes. Fairview and Warren combined to score just two points in the fourth quarter with the Tigers holding on to repeat as champions despite being shut out in the quarter. Two Stuart free throws at 2:36 were all that went through the net in the final quarter.

“By the middle of the fourth quarter, they were face-guarding her and Sammie,” said LaVan. “Thank goodness for our defense; that just continued to keep us in the game. I couldn’t be more proud of the way we defended them.”

Meea Irwin stole a Fairview inbounds pass with about 15 seconds left, and LaVan called a timeout. After a few seconds looking for a shot, Warren’s coach called a second timeout.

Ruhlman found Alyssa Farr on the wing and Farr dribbled to an open space close to the free-throw line. Farr got a shot away, but it was off the mark as the buzzer sounded to snap Warren’s 15-game winning streak.

Other than Kuzminski’s bucket and Farr’s third-quarter 3-pointer, Stuart scored every point, a game-high 21, including three 3-pointers and 8 of 9 free-throw attempts.

Heidt and Ella Garrity led Fairview (20-5) with 7 points apiece, and Warren held Tigers freshman point guard Paige Garrity (14.2 ppg) to 6 points.

“We did a great job on her,” said LaVan. “Alyssa is a lockdown defender. The best I have ever coached.”

Both Fairview and Warren — as D10’s top two Class 4A seeds — will host PIAA tournament first-round games. The Lady Dragons (20-5) will play the District 7 third seed, Elizabeth Forward (22-3), at 1 p.m. Saturday at Warren Area High School.

WARREN (26)

Ruhlman 0, Kuzminski 1 0 2, Farr 1 0 3, Roell 0, Stuart 5 8-9 21, Wotorson 0, Irwin 0. Totals 7 8-9 26.

FAIRVIEW (28)

Ella Garrity 3 0 7, Paige Garrity 2 0 6, Agnello 0, Pizzo 0 2 2, Sholes 0, Heidt 3 1 7. Totals 10 3-4 28.

3-point goals–Farr, Stuart 3, EGarrity, PGarrity 2.

Warren 6 4 14 2 — 26

Fairview 8 11 9 0 — 28