CLARION — Something funny happened to Union's girls basketball team on the way to its 19th consecutive win Saturday afternoon.

It was losing.

The Golden Damsels (27-1) watched Monaca go on an 8-0 run to snare a 16-15 lead with 6:25 left in the second quarter of their first-round PIAAClass A tournament game at Clarion University.

"Fans for the other team were cheering and we were standing around looking at each other on offense,"Union coach Josh Meeker said. "Monaca was getting back and getting set on defense and we're not used to that.

"We were actually losing. You wonder how you're going to respond. Are you going to collapse?Are you going to fold?"

Wonder no more.

The Damsels responded by scoring 39 of the game's next 48 points, opening up a 54-25 lead early in the fourth quarter and cruising to a 62-34 victory.

"We seem to do that whenever we have to,"Union senior forward Andrea Mortimer said. "We don't like to lose."

Molly Scott sank a pair of free throws with 5:43 left in the second quarter to give Union the lead it never lost. Mortimer and Nikki Davis added a free throw each, Tiffany Corle converted a three-point play and Janele Divins drained a 3-pointer to give the Damsels a 27-18 halftime lead.

The third quarter was no contest. Mortimer scored 13 of her game-high 26 points in that quarter as the Damsels outscored Monaca (20-6) 23-7 in the period.

"Take nothing away from them ... They have a very good basketball team,"Lady Indians coach Tim Morgan said. "But we got in foul trouble, the flu has been running through our team this week ... We just couldn't keep up.

"We knew it would take a perfect game from us to beat them."

Monaca had a 15-game winning streak snapped by eventual WPIALClass Achampion Monessen, 46-37, in its district playoffs.

Like Union, the Indians prefer an up-tempo game.

"They weren't going to be intimidated by us,"Meeker said.

"We were looking forward to this game because Union is a mirror image of us in their style of play,"Morgan said.

"The game just got away from us."

Union enjoyed a 28-14 rebounding advantage in the second half and a 48-27 edge on the boards for the game. Bethany Koch had nine points and 14 rebounds, Mortimer, Davis and MacKenzie Shirey five rebounds each.

Mortimer was Union's only double-figure scorer.

"Andrea is our most experienced player,"Meeker said. "Without saying it, she sort of told the girls to give her the ball and she'd do something with it."

Samantha Regrey and Kaley Reda scored 10 points each for Monaca, which was held to its second-lowest point total of the season.

Union's 62 points was its lowest total in 12 games, but the most allowed by Monaca this year.

The teams combined for 45 turnovers in the fast-paced game. Monaca had 23 of them.

MONACA34Alysa Nichol 0-0 0-0 0, Courtney Mottes 1-4 0-0 2, Laura Perkins 2-6 3-5 7, Bryann Mozine 0-0 0-1 0, Selena Rowan 1-4 0-0 2, Alyse Scarsella 0-4 0-1 0, Kaley Reda 4-6 1-2 10, Vanessa Wutter 0-0 1-2 1, Sara Rowan 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Braddock 0-1 2-2 2, Samantha Regrey 4-13 1-2 10. Shannon McCreary 0-3 0-2 0. Totals: 12-42 8-17 34

UNION62Tiffany Corle 2-8 1-1 6, Andrea Mortimer 8-14 10-13 26, Janele Divins 3-8 0-0 8, Bethany Koch 3-10 3-7 9, Nikki Davis 0-2 2-4 2, Molly Scott 2-2 4-6 9, Heather Booth 0-0 0-0 0, Colleen Logue 0-3 0-2 0, Meagan Booth 0-0 0-0 0, Alicia Anthony 0-2 0-0 0, MacKenzie Shirey 0-3 2-2 2. Totals: 18-52 22-36 62

Monaca 11 7 7 9—34Union 15 12 23 12—623-point goals: Reda, Regrey; Corle, Divins 2, Scott

Wednesday: Union vs. Penns Manor, 7:30 p.m. @ Butler High School