Feb 17, 2018 By Adam Brewer for The 4 min read

FOX CHAPEL — The Elizabeth Forward girls basketball squad outscored Freeport 15-3 in the second quarter and that proved to be the decisive period in the Lady Warriors’ 45-33 victory in Saturday’s WPIAL Class AAAA first round playoff game at Fox Chapel High School.

The Lady Warriors (15-7) gained revenge with the win after dropping a hard-fought 56-50 overtime contest to Freeport in last year’s first round.

“We were a lot more mature this time around than from the last time we played them,” EF coach Krystal Gibbs said. “We talked a lot about redemption this week and we had a lot more drive coming into the playoffs.”

The postseason victory is Elizabeth Forward’s first since 2015 when the Lady Warriors beat Mount Pleasant in the first round and McGuffey in the quarterfinals. The Lady Warriors lost to South Fayette in the semifinals that season.

The 10th-seeded Lady Warriors will look for another upset in the round of eight when they face off with No. 2-seeded Blackhawk (18-2) on Thursday with a time and site to be determined.

Brianna Spirnak recorded a double-double for Elizabeth Forward with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The junior forward also added five blocks and three steals.

“There was a lot of talk about this game and how it was a second chance for our team,” Spirnak said. “We wanted to prove to ourselves that we could beat them and win in the playoffs. We wanted to shutdown their big girl and make the other players make plays against us.”

Julia Jenkins collected 14 points for the Lady Warriors, while Juria Flournoy added eight.

Sidney Shemanski was the lone double-digit scorer for the Lady Yellow Jackets (13-9) with 16 points. Senior standout Jenna Manke was limited to just two points in the loss.

“We went out of our man and switched to a zone,” Gibbs said. “We kept them on the outside and took away their driving lanes to penetrate. We really loved the tempo and it was kind of a change for us. We like to run, but I thought we did a good job with adjusting to a more methodical approach at both ends.”

There were seven lead changes in a back-and-forth opening eight minutes.

Trailing 3-0, Elizabeth Forward scored the next four points with baskets by Spirnak and Flournoy. Freeport responded with two buckets of its own before the Lady Warriors went on an 8-3 rally to grab a 12-10 lead.

The Lady Jackets ended the wild quarter with four points and took a 14-12 lead into the second.

It was all Elizabeth Forward in the second quarter, as the Lady Warriors started the frame with a 3-pointer from Spirnak before Freeport scored the next three points.

The Lady Warriors held the second place team out of Section 1 scoreless the rest of the quarter and scored the final 12 points to take a 27-17 lead into halftime.

“That was our best zone (on defense) all season,” Gibbs said. “It gave them fits in the second quarter and that kind of decided the game. We dug deep and played with our hearts. We were patient on offense and you could tell our kids were gaining confidence as the game went along.”

Both defenses were stingy in the third, as EF held an 8-6 scoring advantage.

In the fourth quarter, the teams once again exchanged points and a 3-pointer by Jenkins stretched Elizabeth Forward’s lead to 43-24 with about three minutes left in the game.

Freeport made things interested late with a 9-0 run to cut the lead down to 43-33, but Spirnak grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw and scored a put-back hoop to end any hopes of a comeback rally for the Lady Jackets.

“It got a little close at the end, but we hung together,” Spirnak said. “I might have led the team in points today, but I thought my teammates were great today. They gave me the open looks and made good passes to me on the inside. It was a total team effort.”