DANVILLE -- When their 13-point lead had been whittled to seven midway through the fourth quarter Friday, the Danville girls were at a tipping point.
If they didn't respond -- and soon -- the Ironmen risked Selinsgrove making more than a game of it. They risked the Seals pulling off a dramatic comeback and handing the Heartland Athletic Conference Division I championship to Shamokin.
Danville emerged from a timeout and got two of the prettiest successive looks a team could hope for, pushing the lead to double-figures and causing Selinsgrove to wave the white flag in a 45-36 victory.
"Sometimes we get too ahead of ourselves and make bad plays," said Danville's Maddy Moser, "but then we gather ourselves and execute better."
Moser had a double-double with a game-high 14 points and 10 of the Ironmen's 24 steals. Fellow seniors Rachael Herman and Montanah James had 12 and nine points, respectively, and three steals apiece. And junior guard Kylie Romeo had six thefts as Danville forced 30 turnovers (15 in each half) against a Seals team playing without senior point guard Brianna Brancato (right ankle injury).
"I don't think (Brancato's absence) necessarily contributed to our turnovers," said Seals coach Scott Kersetter. "Since Danville played at our place (Jan. 18), we've probably been -- against the better teams -- pushing 20 turnovers no matter who we have on the floor.
"You can't turn the ball over 30 times and expect to beat anyone."
The Ironmen (15-5, 11-2 HAC-I) won their sixth in a row and earned a chance to split the division title with a win Tuesday at Shamokin (16-5, 12-1). That game could also be pivotal for seeding in the upcoming District 4-AAA playoffs.
"I'm really excited," said Moser. "I'm ready to go play and give it our all."
Neither the Ironmen nor Seals were especially sharp at the start Friday; the score was tied at 4 after five minutes of play with each team having as many turnovers as points. Brooke Greak hit a left-wing jumper for a Selinsgrove lead late in the period, but Danville closed it by scoring on four of five turns.
The hot streak carried into the second quarter with James and Moser jumpers for a 16-11 lead, but then the Ironmen missed their next nine shots. It didn't make much of a difference; the Seals went scoreless for 5 minutes and without a field goal for 7 following a Coli Deckard 3-pointer on their first possession of the quarter. They had seven turnovers before Danville's drought ended.
"The girls out front (of Danville's zone) force you to make passes you don't want to make," said Ironmen coach Steve Moser, "and (the frontcourt girls) cheat very well to the next pass."
Maddy Moser knocked down a 3-pointer late in the half, but left enough time on the clock for Deckard to bank in a 30-foot runner at the buzzer to get the Seals within 21-18 at halftime.
The Ironmen blitzed Selinsgrove in the third, scoring 20 total points (eight from Herman, and five each from James and Moser) and forging a 40-27 lead. Siobhan Bross capped the 19-9 spurt with three consecutive wicked assists.
However, Danville scored just one point over the last 90 seconds of the third and first 4 minutes of the fourth, and Selinsgrove made it 41-34.
"I don't really think we worried about it at that point," said James. "We were pretty sure we had it under control."
Out of a timeout, the Ironmen ran cautious motion offense against a Selinsgrove trap and Bross worked a perfect give-and-go with James for a bucket. Then, after a turnover, Maddy Moser crossed the ball from foul line to Taryn Beaver on the left block for a 45-34 lead with less than three minutes to play.
"We had two possessions before that where we had turned it over and we had taken an ill-advised three," said Steve Moser. "So we just said, 'We're going to spread it and, as they come out further, we're going to go behind them.' That's what opened up (those plays)."
"It feels really good to come out and do that," James added, "to do something that good."
Selinsgrove, which started the season 10-1, has limped through a 3-5 stretch within the division that began with a Jan. 18 loss to Danville. The Seals are headed for a four/five seed in the District 4-AAA field.
"We've got to start showing improvement in areas where we've been struggling if we're going to do anything past the first round of the playoffs," said Kerstetter.
