CLARION— Protect the lead?Nah.

Union preferred to add to it.

The Golden Damsels sank a pair of field goals off inbound-passes in the final 1:04 — turning a three-point lead into a six-point advantage. The buckets paved the way to a 49-38 PIAA Class Afirst-round girls basketball tournament win over Ferndale Saturday afternoon at Clarion University.

Union (27-3) won its 21st consecutive game and will face Mount Alvernia (20-7) — a 53-47 winner over Berlin Brothersvalley — in the tourney's second round Wednesday.

The lead didn't come easily to the Damsels, who trailed by four at halftime and were on the short end of a 27-20 score with 5:17 left in the third quarter.

"There was no energy level there,"Union coach Josh Meeker said. "I mean, we had none."

"We figured we'd come in here and easily win this game,"senior guard Tiffany Corle admitted. "When we found ourselves losing, it hurt our confidence a little."

The Damsels showed plenty of confidence late.

A 9-0 run gave Union a 29-27 lead late in the third quarter. Alicia Anthony canned a trey with 1:18 left to tie the game and a Corle lay-up gave the Damsels the lead.

But Ferndale (20-9), despite having two starters unavailable Saturday, wouldn't go away. The Yellow Jackets pulled even at 31 with 6:23 remaining in the game before Corle scored her team's next five points.

"Yeah, I wanted the ball in my hands,"she said. "I have faith in my teammates, but I like being in position to decide things."

Leading 38-35 with just over a minute to play, the Damsels decided not to run clock. Putting the ball in play from behind Ferndale's basket, the inbound-pass went right to Janele Divins, who knocked down a 3-pointer.

Leading 41-37 with 42 seconds left, the Damsels again inbounded the ball from behind the Jackets' hoop. This time the pass went to Denyelle Painter, who immediately sank a baseline jumper for a 43-37 advantage.

"We will run clock when the situation calls for it, but I didn't call for it there,"Meeker said. "The girls don't always listen anyway.

"When Janele and Denyelle shoot the ball in those situations, they know they're gonna make it. Both of those shots found nothing but net. I didn't see any nervousness out there."

Ferndale coach Mike Crisafulli didn't see any, either.

"They (Union) are used to going a lot farther than this game,"Crisafulli said. "I'm sure that helped them today."

Ferndale has never advanced past the first round of the PIAATournament during Crisafulli's five years at the helm. Union reached the Western Final last year.

Corle said the Damsels weren't about to wait to be fouled during the final minute.

"We're used to leading games by a lot more than five or six points," she said. "We didn't feel safe out there at all."

The Damsels did put the game away at the line, Painter sinking two free throws with 31 seconds left and Mackenzie Shirey adding a pair with 17 seconds to play.

Shirey's free throws gave Union its first double-digit lead of the day at 47-37.

"Only 32 teams make the state tournament,"Meeker said. "Every team you play is good. I knew this game would be a scrap."

Corle paced the Damsels with 15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Union held a 37-24 advantage on the boards.

Sarah McAteer paced Ferndale with 18 points. The Yellow Jackets had just three assists in the game to Union's 14.

Ferndale shot 31 percent from the floor and hit only three of 14 3-point attempts.

"We live and die with our shooting,"Crisafulli said. "We hung in this game for a long time, then we stopped hitting shots and Union kept hitting theirs."

"All of their girls can shoot,"Meeker said. "We were lagging back on defense in the first three quarters and weren't challenging their shots."

The Damsels suffered 11 of their 16 turnovers in the first half. Ferndale had nine of its 15 turnovers in the second half.

"It was turnover city for us early,"Meeker said. "They like to change defenses often and we weren't ready for that. Once we turned up the energy level, we were OK."

FERNDALE 38Alexandra Russell 0-6 5-8 5, Brittany Eisenhuth 1-3 1-2 3, Kylee Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Sarah McAteer 7-17 2-5 18, Kayla Kohler 1-3 2-2 5, Jamie Rosequist 1-1 2-4 4, Alyssa Pudliner 1-3 1-2 3.

Totals: 11-34 13-23 38

UNION 49Tiffany Corle 7-15 1-1 15, Meagan Booth 0-1 0-0 0, Torri Smith 2-3 0-0 4, Janele Divins 2-4 0-0 5, Mackenzie Shirey 2-8 2-4 6, Alicia Anthony 4-9 0-0 9, Corri Seybert 1-1 0-0 2, Denyelle Painter 2-4 4-5 8.

Totals: 20-45 7-10 49

Ferndale 10 12 7 9—38Union 12 6 13 18—493-point goals: McAteer, Kohler; Anthony, Divins

Wednesday: Union vs. Mount Alvernia @Knoch, 6 p.m.