RIMERSBURG — All through the first half, DuBois Central Catholic coach Paul Cherry kept telling his team to relax and look for good shots.

He reiterated that point at halftime and his squad responded.

In Tuesday's District 9 Class A playoff game against Union, the Cardinals erased a 16-point first-half deficit, thanks to a 20-6 run in the second half, then used a late 7-2 spurt to pull away in a 62-58 girls basketball victory.

After Lanae Cicciarelli nailed a 3-pointer to give Union (15-8) a 54-53 lead with 3:34 to go in the game, DCC used a three-point play by Liz Heasley and a basket by Lauresa Gulvas to take a 58-54 lead.

Tina Lipps pulled Union back to within two with a bucket, but Gulvas answered with another score to bump the lead back to four points with 2:21 left.

Lepha Logue made it 60-58 with a score with 58 seconds left, but Union did not score again.

Courtney Frederick's shot with 37 seconds left hit the rim and the Cardinals pulled down the rebound.

Gulvas, a freshman who finished with a game-high 28 points, missed a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left.

Logue missed a layup with 29 seconds left and Gulvas again got the rebound and was fouled. She missed both shots, but Union lost the ball out of bounds with nine seconds left.

DCC's Meghan Thomas calmly sank a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to account for the final score.

Union had opened the game by scoring 13 of the first 16 points and enjoyed a 19-7 lead after one quarter.

"Our girls never gave up," said Cherry. "They did it for themselves. They live to play another day. No one gave them a shot."

"I thought they hit a couple of key shots, a couple of 3-pointers," said Union coach Josh Meeker about the Cardinals' comeback. "I told one of our coaches I thought we'd be up by 20 (at halftime) and we were only up by nine.

"I was getting nervous because the tide was turning slowly and we couldn't stop it,"Meeker added.

When Cicciarelli opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer and Lipps added a free throw, the Damsels enjoyed a 23-7 advantage with 6:16 left before halftime.

"After the first quarter, we were just panicking with the ball and not relaxing," said Cherry. "I told them there was a lot of game left, to chip away and chip away."

With Union leading 42-34 with 3:21 left in the third quarter, the Cardinals came to life, reeling off 15 of the next 17 points, including 3-pointers by Gulvas and Megan Witherow to close the run, as they took a 49-44 lead with 7:37 to play.

Union appeared to get worn down from the press, something Meeker couldn't explain.

"We couldn't press the whole game, "said Meeker. "I wish we could. They beat our girls down the court.

"This was probably the first time teams matched up inside with us," Meeker added. "Most teams have one big girl and (DCC) had three that were 5-10, 5-11. Tina, Lepha and Brooke, their shots weren't there. They'd turn around underneath and a 5-10 girl would be in their face."

Still, Meeker was pleased with his team's season, which saw the Damsels finish second in the KSAC South.

"I'm proud of these girls. Even with the tradition here, we didn't have that one go-to girl that would get 15 to 20 points each game and we had points spread out. ... Games like this you need someone like that."

DuBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 62Liz Heasley 2 3-3 7, Meagan Thomas 0 2-4 2, Miller Hopkins 3 0-4 6, Megan Witherow 6 0-2 15, Lauresa Gulvas 11 3-8 28, Natalie Robison 0 0-2 0, Kim Cadori 1 0-0 2, Jordan Meyers 0 0-0 0, Joanna Fitzer 0 2-2 2, Alyssa Marchioni 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 10-25 62.

UNION58Lanae Cicciarelli 4 0-0 11, Courtney Frederick 5 0-0 10, Lepha Logue 2 3-4 7, Melissa Shook 1 3-4 5, Tina Lipps 6 5-8 17, Amanda Barger 0 0-0 0, Brooke Pollock 3 0-2 6, Ashley MacKinley 1 0-0 2, Heather Murray 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 11-18 58.

DuBois Cent. Cath. 7 18 21 16—62Union 19 15 10 14—583-point goals: Witherow 3, Gulvas 3; Cicciarelli 3