INDIANA — Josh Meeker took a calculated risk. But he knew the cards he was dealing with.

Union's girls basketball coach began the second half of Saturday's PIAAClass A girls basketball quarterfinal with a two-point lead and one of his best players, senior co-captain Bethany Koch, on the bench with three fouls.

"I have faith in all of my players,"Meeker said. "We had a two-point lead against the defending state champion. I was happy with that. I wanted to give Beth more time to reenergize.

"Call it an educated guess."

Call it the right guess.

Koch re-entered the game midway through the fourth quarter, scored five buckets in less than four minutes and gave the Golden Damsels (29-1) the lead they never lost.

Union defeated Serra Catholic, 65-58, at Indiana (Pa.)University's Memorial Fieldhouse to advance to its first Western Final since 1975.

"I know that break helped me,"Koch said. "I felt like I had more energy when I went back in.

"I knew I had to play smarter, but I still had to go after loose balls, hit the boards, attack the basket. We wanted this too badly. There was no backing off."

The Damsels trailed 39-35 with 5:42 left in the third quarter when Koch re-entered the contest. The deficit was 41-37 when she sank a pair of short jumpers to tie the game at the 3:13 mark.

Union trailed 45-43 when Koch sank a lay-up, then two more jumpers. Those buckets put the Damsels ahead 49-45.

And Union never trailed again.

"They got the spurt we were looking for,"Serra Catholic coach Bill Cleary said. "It seemed like she (Koch) didn't miss a shot."

Koch's flurry provided the 11th lead change in a game that was also tied seven times. Neither team ever led by more than eight points until Union built that margin midway through the fourth quarter.

Union completed a 9-0 run as Andrea Mortimer stuck back an offensive rebound and Tiffany Corle sank a free throw with no time left in the third period.

After Serra pulled within 52-49 early in the final quarter, Mortimer hit another lay-up and Corle canned a short jumper. A 3-pointer by Corle moments later hiked the lead to 59-51 with 4:25 remaining.

"I told the girls we had to treat this game like a heavyweight title fight,"Meeker said. "We were gonna get punched and knocked down a few times.

"The key was to punch back. When they make a run at us, just punch back."

Serra's final run came minutes later as Staci Menzies scored a lay-up and buried a 3-pointer to cut the Union lead to 61-58 with 1:24 left.

But Nikki Davis punched back, sinking a pair of free throws with 1:17 left. Finally, Serra Catholic (25-5) had nothing left.

"We were out-rebounded 38 to 19,"Cleary said. "It's hard to win any game when you're outboarded that badly."

Koch paced the Damsels with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Mortimer added 17 points and five boards; Davis 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Corle had nine points and four assists with Janele Divins getting three steals. Union won despite suffering 21 turnovers to Serra's 14.

"Their press flustered us a little bit,"Koch admitted. "We had to get things back under control."

"Everybody settled down. Everybody played her game,"Corle said. "It took all of us to win this game. No matter how things were going, we just kept pushing."

Brittany Matta led Serra with 15 points. Bria Gwosden added 12, Menzies 11, Aimee Ossler nine points and six assists.

Union's 29th win marks a single-season school record. The Damsels will face Conemaugh Valley (29-2) in the Western Final at 7 p.m. Wednesday, again at IUP.

Conemaugh Valley eliminated WPIALchampion Monessen, 51-46, Saturday.

"This was the obstacle we had to overcome,"Meeker said. "We always get knocked out by a private school. This was always the hurdle that stopped us.

"They're a great basketball team, but they're just a bunch of high school girls like we are. They're not a bunch of super athletes headed to Duke or North Carolina or anything like that.

"Our girls had to believe they could win, play hard and play smart,"Meeker added.

They did all three.

SERRA CATHOLIC 58Bria Gwosden 5-12 2-2 12, Jade Stewart 0-2 0-0 0, Aimee Ossler 4-7 0-0 9, Laura Grimm 3-9 1-2 9, Starr Solomon 1-1 0-0 2, Brittany Matta 6-8 3-3 15, Staci Menzies 5-14 0-0 1.Totals: 24-53 6-7 58

UNION 65Tiffany Corle 3-5 1-3 9, Andrea Mortimer 8-13 1-2 17, Janele Divins 2-3 0-0 5, Mackenzie Shirey 0-0 0-0 0, Bethany Koch 10-18 2-2 22, Nikki Davis 5-8 2-2 12, Molly Scott 0-1 0-1 0.

Totals: 28-48 6-11 65

Serra Catholic 12 19 14 13—58Union 15 18 19 13—653-point goals: Ossler, Gruimm 2, Menzies; Corle 2, Divins

Wednesday: PIAAClass AWestern Final-Union vs. Conemaugh Valley, 7 p.m., @Indiana University of Pa.