Central York girls fall in overtime

MILLERSVILLE - It was not an easy loss for Central York girls' basketball coach Scott Wisner to take.

The Panthers had gotten a slower tempo game and held Harrisburg's Tysha Brown in check throughout most of Friday evening's District 3 Class AAAA quarterfinal at Penn Manor High School. Central York led or was tied with the Cougars for all but about two minutes of the game.

But fifth-seeded Harrisburg managed to force overtime and blanked Central York in the four-minute period to emerge with a 49-44 win.

"We led for most of the way except for when it counted the most," Wisner said.

Central York (23-4) came in having won 17 of its past 19 games, with the only blemishes being one-point losses at William Penn on Jan. 5 and to Red Lion in the YAIAA championship last week.

The Panthers led by six points entering the fourth quarter, which equaled their largest lead of the game, but Harrisburg climbed back into the game behind 10 fourth-quarter points from 5-foot-10 freshman forward Dajahnae Brannon.

Brannon, who finished with a game-high 17 points, got all four of her fourth-quarter baskets on layups.

"(Harrisburg is) an excellent team," Wisner said. "We knew they were not going to go away and that run was going to come at some point."

Harrisburg (20-4) tied the game with 1:11 remaining on a Brannon layup. Both teams blew opportunities to win in regulation in the final minute to force overtime.

It was all Harrisburg in overtime. The Cougars went 3-of-9 from the foul line in extra time, and Brannon chipped in another layup.

"Honestly, our execution was not what it needed to be," Wisner said. "We missed too many good opportunities. We let (Harrisburg) hang around, and it led to our demise."

Harrisburg advanced despite getting just 14 points from the 5-5 guard Brown, who will be playing Big East basketball for Providence next winter. Brown entered Friday as the leading scorer in the Mid Penn Conference, averaging 21.4 points per game.

"We were trying to make (Brown) shoot more pull up jumpers," Wisner said. "We just didn't want to let her get all the way to the basket."

Harrisburg entered Friday's game scoring 63.1 points per game. The Cougars scored 70 or more points seven times this season and three times eclipsed 80 points.

Harrisburg (49)

Woodyard 2 2-5 8, Tysha Brown 7 0-4 14, McLaughlin 0 1-2 1, Ransom 1 0-2 2, Dajahnae Brannon 6 5-8 17, Merritt 0 3-5 3, Waters 2 0-0 4. Totals —  18 11-26 49

Central York (45)

Nikson Valencik 6 1-5 13, Emma Saxton 4 4-5 12, Williams 0 0-0 0, Sepic 1 0-0 3, Shellenberger 1 0-0 2, Teirra Preston 3 4-8 10, Fabbri 2 0-0 4, Stanton 0 0-0 0. Totals —  17 9-18 44

Harrisburg _ 13 _ 9 _ 8 _ 14 _5_  — _ 49  

Central York _15 _ 11 _ 10 _ 8 _0_ — _ 44  

3-point goals — Harrisburg 2 (Woodyard 2), Central York 1 (Sepic).