SHAMOKIN — Facing a double-digit deficit with three minutes left in its season, a determined Berwick girls basketball team charged out of a timeout and immediately made a push to play on.
The Bulldogs were stopped short.
Berwick didn’t get run out of the gym against a heavily-favored Danville team, but the Bulldogs did run out of steam Saturday during a 43-35 loss in the opening round of the PIAA Class 4A tournament.
“We were fighting back,” said Berwick junior guard Renny Murphy, who led the Bulldogs with 14 points. “But our energy, it’s what we count on.
“It just wasn’t there tonight.”
So while District 4 champion Danville improved to 24-3 and will advance to meet D3 third seed Northern Lebanon (23-4) in the second round of states on Wednesday, Berwick finished an up-and-down season at 16-10.
The final game was a pretty good reflection of this whole year for District 2 No. 3 seed Berwick.
Berwick had problems hanging onto the ball while turning it over 19 times over the first two quarters and gave it away 27 times for the game, yet forced just as many errors by Danville while making nine steals in the first half.
The game was tied 7-7 after a quarter and Danville went into halftime nursing a three-point lead.
“Nineteen turnovers in the first half and we’re still in the game,” Berwick coach Bill Phillips said.
The Bulldogs came out of halftime threatening to break away, scoring seven consecutive points to take a 23-19 lead. Murphy’s scooping layup tied the game and Emily Ouimet’s jumper put Berwick ahead, forcing Danville into a timeout with just over three minutes gone in the third period.
“We knew we were underdogs coming into this game,” Murphy said. “We wanted to come out with a win. It just didn’t go our way.”
Mainly because Corinna Petrus took over.
The Heartland Conference all-star forward popped five points to settle the Ironmen in the third quarter, added seven more in the fourth and finished with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds to ignite Danville’s victory.
“She’s a very good player,” Phillips said. “She can play the post, too, off the dribble. Very good player.”
The Bulldogs were within a bucket heading into the final quarter and hung within four points midway through, but that changed quickly.
Petrus converted a three-point play to boost the Ironmen into an eight-point advantage, and Linae Williams scored the final two of her 15 points on a pair of free throws to put Berwick in a 39-29 hole with 3:02 to play.
Berwick didn’t blink, though.
Murphy came out of a timeout with two straight baskets — the second on a foul line jumper off a baseline save by teammate Katie Starr — and suddenly it was a six-point game with 1:43 to play.
But Berwick couldn’t cut any deeper into its deficit.
Emily Heath and Olivia Outt combined for three free throws down the stretch and Berwick finished 6-for-19 from the foul line, including three misses in the fourth quarter.
“Beat ourselves,” Phillips said. “We did get to the line. Gotta make free throws. What I did like was our fight right to the end. We went down 10, most teams would have folded. Our kids are young kids. They want to get back here next year, they’re saying that even now.”
PIAA CLASS 4A FIRST ROUND
Danville 43, Berwick 35
BERWICK (35) — Renny Murphy 6 1-3 14, Morgan Nevel 0 1-5 1, Sarah Steeber 1 2-6 4, Katie Starr 4 1-2 9, Emily Ouimet 3 0-0 6, Rachel Whitenight 0 1-3 1, Abby Burt 0 0-0 0, Jackie Nevel 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-19 35.
DANVILLE (43) — Olivia Outt 0 1-6 1, Kylee Cush 0 0-0 0, Emily Heath 2 2-2 6, Corinna Petrus 8 5-8 21, Linae Williams 5 5-6 15, Melanie Egan 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 13-22 43.
Berwick`7`9`10`9 — 35
Danville`7`12`9`15 — 43
Three-point goals — BER 1 (Murphy).
