District 3 Playoffs: Bella Super's Late Steal Secures Gov. Mifflin State Playoff Berth
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- 4 min read
Six seconds remained in the District 3 Class 6A first-round matchup Monday between host No. 6 Ephrata and No. 11 Gov. Mifflin. The Mounts had one last opportunity to even up the Mustangs' 49-46 lead.
Mifflin junior Bella Super, who was battling an illness, took her opportunity and stole the ball at the top of the key, dribbled it to the other end of the court to run out the clock, and secured Mifflin a spot in the PIAA tournament and its first district playoff win in five years.
“The past two years, we've lost our first game of districts and it hurt us a lot," said Super, who had a team-high 16 points, seven steals, and two blocks. "We came into this game focused and kept that in mind. We knew we had to come out strong."
The Mustangs (18-6) will travel to No. 3 Dallastown, which defeated Cedar Crest 55-36 Monday, in the semifinals Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Mounts end their season at 18-6.
In the other District 3 playoff matchups involving Berks teams, Laura Crocona had 15 points as No. 4 Wilson defeated No. 13 Penn Manor 65-30 in the 6A bracket. The Bulldogs will host No. 5 Mechanicsburg, which defeated No. 12 South Western 61-45, in the quarterfinals Thursday.
In 3A, Lily Hare had 15 points as No. 4 Oley Valley defeated No. 5 Kutztown 46-32. The Lynx travel to No. 1 Trinity, which had a bye, in the semifinals Thursday.
No. 12 Exeter travels to No. 5 Lampeter-Strasburg tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. in the 5A first round.
The victory over Ephrata felt even more validating for the Mustangs, who were upset by Exeter in the BCIAA semifinals just five days ago.
“It feels really good," Super said. "In the practice before this, coach Mike [Clark] told us we had to put that last game behind us, not dwell on the past, and just focus on the games coming up.”
The win clinches Gov. Mifflin its first state playoff appearance since 2020, when the tournament was canceled after the second round due to the pandemic. The Mustangs also would've made it in 2021, but the pandemic limited the qualifiers to district champions.
“Getting to states this year, I think it's going to help them the following year," Clark said. "The more games we play with this group, I think the better.”
Mifflin, which doesn't have a senior in its starting lineup, now extends its season to continue building chemistry.
“I think it's really important," Super said of the extra games. "It's growing our team closer and it's a lot of memories that we'll have. I think it's good for the freshmen to see so we have some experience, while they grow with the game.”
The Mustangs jumped out to a 7-0 lead Monday, forcing an Ephrata timeout with 6:33 to go in the first.
The Mounts battled back and led 18-17 after the first quarter and kept the lead until the Mustangs tied it with less than a minute to go before halftime.
The third quarter saw six lead changes. After Leah Caldwell's two free throws put the Mounts up 41-37, Bridget Martin (nine points, eight rebounds, five steals) converted an and-one cut the lead to one with 1:41 left, Super's bucket with 1:00 left gave the lead back to Mifflin, Jazzlin Sanders' deuce put Ephrata back up, and Ja'Tiyah Case's free throw with 5.8 seconds left had the teams tied 43-43 headed to the fourth.
Brooklyn George's layup with 5:52 left were the first points of a low-scoring fourth quarter and gave Mifflin the lead.
Leah Caldwell scored to tie it and Martin answered with a putback to regain the lead for the Mustangs.
Sanders made a free throw with 4:11 remaining to make it 47-46, a score that held until 27.2 seconds remained and George hit two free throws for the Mustangs to push the lead to three.
The Mustangs started to chew clock toward the end of the game to preserve its lead, a rare strategy for the typically high-powered offense. It worked as the Mounts weren't able to put any more points on the board.
Ephrata held a significant advantage on the boards, but Mifflin counteracted by winning the turnover battle.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Gov. Mifflin | 17 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 49 |
Ephrata | 18 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 46 |
Mustangs (18-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
George | 2-12 | 2-2 | 1-7 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
Martin | 4-14 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 2 | 8 | 9 |
Super | 7-17 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 1 | 4 | 16 |
Case | 3-9 | 2-6 | 1-5 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
Renninger | 2-5 | 4-6 | 0-2 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
Tobin | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Corza | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 18-57 | 9-15 | 4-20 | 5 | 27/33 | 49 |
Mounts (18-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
A. Caldwell | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Sanders | 3-15 | 2-4 | 1-6 | 3 | 11 | 9 |
L. Caldwell | 3-11 | 5-6 | 0-1 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
Pike | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Clark | 2-5 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Bender | 5-9 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
Devonshire | 3-7 | 0-0 | 2-6 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
Totals | 17-52 | 7-10 | 5-20 | 10 | 37/43 | 46 |
Turnovers: Gov. Mifflin 13, Ephrata 20. Team Rebounds: Gov. Mifflin 6, Ephrata 6.