CLARION - How tall is Andrea Glassmire? Tall enough to violate Union's air space.

Coudersport's 6-foot-0 senior scored 20 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked five shots Saturday in leading the Falcons to a 53-31 girls basketball victory over the Damsels in the District 9 Class A championship game at Clarion University.

"We knew she'd be a problem for us," Union coach Josh Meeker said. "But it's hard to break old habits. Our girls are used to driving to the basket and we knew we couldn't do that against this team.

"By the time we started kicking the ball back out and using our outside shooting, it was too late."

Coudersport (26-1) led by as much as 45-16 with 3:52 left in the third quarter. The Falcons scored the first 12 points of the third frame in rolling to their 26th consecutive victory.

Coudersport's personnel was bigger and physically stronger than Union at virtually every position.

"It was our size against their speed, basically," Falcons coach Matt Splain said.

Union's tallest player is 5-9 sophomore Bethany Koch. Coudersport has six players on its roster 5-9 or taller.

But Glassmire was the dominant player on the floor.

"She's so tall and lanky. She creates match-up problems for pretty much every team we play," Splain said. "And she's worked hard on her game over the summer for the past four years."

Andrea Mortimer and Brianna Wensel paced Union with six points each. The Damsels (22-5) fell behind 13-2 in the first five minutes and had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Union's 31 points were a season-low. The Damsels' previous low was 40 in a loss at Karns City Feb. 7.

"We couldn't do a thing inside," Meeker said. "They had total control in there.

"Hey, we lost to a great team that has five senior starters. We're not done. There's no reason why we can't put together a decent run in the state tournament."

The Damsels will face Saegertown (24-2) in the PIAA tournament Saturday.

Coudersport returned four starters this year from a team that reached the PIAA semifinals last season, where it lost to Bishop Carroll.

Maria Martin added 11 points Saturday for the Falcons, who had a 32-27 rebounding edge. Both teams had 13 turnovers.

Koch had seven rebounds for Union.

"That team's more than just size," Meeker said. "They can shoot from outside and do everything well.

"They can beat anybody we've played this year, I know that."

About the only thing the Falcons didn't do well Saturday was shoot free throws. They sank just three of 12.

Coudersport won the District 9 title for the fourth consecutive year.

UNION 31

Andrea Mortimer 3-10 0-0 6, Leia Mortimer 1-4 0-0 3, Briana Wensel 2-9 0-0 6, Bethany Koch 2-12 1-2 5, Nikki Davis 2-4 0-0 4, Molly Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Courtney Horner 1-3 1-2 3, MacKenzie Shirey 0-0 0-0 0, Tiffany Corle 1-1 0-0 2, Janele Divins 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 13-44 2-4 31

COUDERSPORT 53

Danielle Furman 3-7 0-0 8, Taiasha Brown 2-4 2-6 6, Maria Martin 5-7 1-4 11, Andrea Glassmire 10-13 0-1 20, Kellie Tingley 2-9 0-1 6, Sarah Engelsman 1-2 0-0 2, Emily Dunn 0-1 0-0 0, Terra Erway 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-44 3-12 53

3-point goals:

L.Mortimer, Wensel 2; Furman 2, Tingley 2

Saturday:

Union vs. Saegertown, PIAA Class A playoffs, site and time TBA