Pittsburgh, Pa., Jan. 31, 2003 -- Despite a tremendous effort from the visiting Lady Little Lions, No. 1 Oakland Catholic dealt State College its second loss of the season, winning 69-58.

This was the sixth time the two teams have met, Oakland Catholic (18-4) winning five of the six contests including a double overtime 49-44 victory in last year's PIAA semifinals.

The Lady Little Lions, now 17-2, went nearly bucket for bucket with the Eagles during the first half, but a third-quarter run by Oakland Catholic's Eve Pyle, Christiana Lackner and Meghan Vasilisin prevented the Lady Little Lions from catching the Eagles in the last period.

"We didn't get many shots in the third quarter, and I think that's what hurt us," State College coach Bethany Irwin said. "They put everything in, and we struggled offensively."

Compensating for obvious height disadvantages, Irwin said her team had to focus more on using its outside strength.

Sarah O'Shea made six three-pointers, leading the Lady Little Lions with 18 points. Jessie Serafin and Suzy Carlson also chipped in from three-point range during the first half, each sinking a pair of threes.

Serafin's second three-pointer ended the first quarter with State College leading 23-19.

Oakland Catholic's Meg Bulger scored 10 of her 20 points in the first eight minutes, with Brianne O'Rourke, Bulger and Vasilisin all adding three-point shots during the second period to secure the Eagles' 38-34 halftime lead.

Nicole Scipione added six of her 14 points to a pair of threes from O'Shea in the third quarter, but the combination of Oakland Catholic's Pyle, Lackner and Vasilisin proved to be too much for the Lady Little Lions.

Pyle scored nine of her game-high 26 points, giving the Eagles a 56-46 advantage going into the final eight minutes.

Two more buckets from Pyle preceding seven straight points from Bulger at the end of the fourth period sealed Oakland Catholic's 69-58 victory over the Lady Little Lions.

Irwin gave credit to her long-range shooters and also acknowledged the efforts of Katlyn Stupar under the net.

"She was playing kids who are six, seven inches taller than her," Irwin said. "She went in there, she tried her best, and if we meet them down the road, we're going to have to try to get something else."

State College's J.V team fought to keep its 76-game winning streak alive against Oakland Catholic, defeating the Eagles 47-45.

Jessie Serafin led in scoring with 19 points, 12 coming from three-pointers, while an offensive rebound from Kelsey Ream with six seconds remaining in the game secured the win.