The date? Feb. 25 2009 against Conneaut Valley. It was so long ago that that school doesn’t exist any longer, having since been merged with Linesville and Conneaut Lake to form a new school district.

Led by 26 points from Clara Steinberg and 16 from Lainey Font, the Knights ended that drought by knocking off Maplewood 56-45 in the District 10 Class 2A quarterfinal on Saturday at Meadville High School.

The win improved Eisenhower’s record to 17-6 and secured a spot in the PIAA playoffs, which will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday against Kennedy Catholic (16-5) at Sharon High School.

The Knights certainly hadn’t forgotten a buzzer-beater loss to the same Maplewood team last season, and they used it as motivation to prepare for the 2024-25 campaign.

Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger Eisenhower’s Lainey Font stops a Maplewood player’s drive to the basket.

“We established clear goals for this season, to win a playoff game and get back at Maplewood for last year’s game,” Eisenhower head coach DJ Steinberg said. “So far, we have accomplished two of our team goals.”

Clara Steinberg scored the opening basket on a floor-length drive to the hoop, and Font quickly stole Maplewood’s inbounds pass and scored and Eisenhower led 4-0 just seven seconds into the game. Eisenhower would increase its lead to eight points before Maplewood would go on a 7-0 run to cut the score to 17-16 in favor of Eisenhower at the end of the first quarter. Clara Steinberg paced the Knights with 12 points in the period.

The second quarter saw the Tigers get themselves back in the game when Eisenhower got in foul trouble and sent Maplewood to the free throw line for the last 3:29 of the quarter. The Tigers connected on 6 of 10 attempts from the line and held a 31-28 lead at the half.

The third quarter saw the Knights in nearly the same situation as the second quarter. Clinging to a three-point lead at the 2:48 mark of the third quarter, Maplewood made 7 of 8 free throws while Eisenhower was only 2 of 2. But thanks to strong defense, the Knights held their opponent without a field goal, going on a 19-7 run to take a 47-38 advantage, one they would never relinquish.

Font led Eisenhower with 11 points in the quarter, including three 3-pointers.

“I talked to the girls at halftime and challenged them to step up on the defensive end and communicate better,” Coach Steinberg said. “Two of their players had 29 of (Maplewood’s) points in the first half. Clara and Laney Belcher both took that to heart and held those two to just one basket and six free throws in the second half.”

In the final period, the Knights, who outscored Maplewood 9-7, worked the clock offensively and their defense kept pressure on the Tigers.

“When you look at second-half scoring, they only had three baskets, outside of free throws,” Coach Steinberg said. “That is pretty solid defense by our girls.”

Coach Steinberg was quick to praise the play of Sammie Childs and Belcher,

“Childs played her best game of the year. She was aggressive on the boards, confident with her shooting and communicated well with her teammates. Same with Laney B. she did a great job of creating pressure at the ball.”

Eisenhower’s program has improved every season under Coach Steinberg and getting this win and securing a spot in the state playoff round is huge for this junior-laden team.

“The girls just flat-out executed,” he said. “Maplewood is an outstanding team and the Region 2 champion and our girls beat them by 11 points, I am just so proud of these girls and the goals they accomplished. We will continue to work hard and improve where needed.”

The Tigers were led by Madison O’Hara with 19 points and Maggie Means with 18.

NOTES: The Eisenhower boys basketball team will play Rocky Grove at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday immediately following the Youngsville boys playoff game against West Middlesex, which will start at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at piaadistrict10.hometownticketing.com. There will be no tickets for sale at the door.

EISENHOWER (56)

Font 6 0 16, Childs 5 2 12, Belcher 0 2 2, Alcorn 0 0 0, Gates 0 0 0, Steinberg 10 3 26, Totals 21 7 56.

GREENWOOD (45)

Blake 0 0 0, Stevenson 2 1 6, O’Hara 6 4 19, Post 0 0 0, Frazier 0 0 0, Means 4 8 18, Beck 1 0 2, Palmiero 0 0 0, Totals 13 13 45.

3-point goals — Font 4, Steinberg 3, Stevenson, O’Hara 3, Means 2.

Eisenhower 17 11 19 9 — 56

Maplewood 16 15 7 7 — 45