Lions Upset No. 1 Upper St. Clair in PIAA Quarterfinals

Johnstown Pa., March 14, 2003 -- Rallying from an 11-4 deficit after the first quarter, State College knocked off Upper St. Clair, the No. 1 team in the state, 64-50 to advance to the PIAA Final Four for a second straight year.

Senior Suzy Carlson led all scorers with a season-high 21 points and senior teammate Nicole Scipione provided 17 points in the PIAA quarterfinal win.

State College, now 26-2, will meet state runner-up Oakland Catholic (25-5) in the Western semifinal Tuesday at a site and time to be determined. The two teams also met in last year's state semis with the Eagles escaping with a 49-44 victory in double overtime.

The Lions misfired frequently in the opening quarter missing several 3-point attempts and blowing a pair of open layup opportunities

Coach Bethany Irwin juggled her lineup looking for an answer and found it as State reversed the 1st quarter trend by outscoring the Panthers 22-11 before intermission.

"I give a lot of credit to my kids coming off the bench," Irwin said. "I think Liz Miller and Carly Onkotz got us fired up. They did what they were supposed to do and kept their intensity up."

With Miller and Onkotz setting a faster pace, State College's shots began to find the mark as Scipione had seven points, Carlson nine points and junior Katlyn Stupar six points during the come-from-behind effort.

State College led 41-33 at the end of the third period and braced for an Upper St. Clair team that had come from behind in three straight WPIAL playoff games to claim the District 7 title.

Scoring just three goals from the field in the final stanza, State College sealed its 26th win of the season at the free throw line. The Lions made 19 of 20 over the last eight minutes with Carlson leading the way making eight straight from the charity stripe.

"We won the game at the line," Irwin said of the final minutes.

Carlson, who had made 32 of her last 33 from the line coming into the game, converted all 11 of her free throw attempts. "It's just concentration," Carlson said. "Once you get in the zone, you just keep shooting them like that."

Scipione worked loose inside sending her season total to 411 points and Stupar reached double figures for the third straight game in the playoffs, adding 12 points.

Upper St. Clair's leading scorer Kyra Kaylor led the Panthers with 18 points. Jamie Allenbaugh was the only other USC player in double figures with 10 points.

The time and location of State's PIAA semifinal game with Oakland Catholic will be announced on Sunday.