ST. MARYS — When push came to shove, A-C Valley pushed the hardest.

Ellie Thompson forced a critical turnover late to lead A-C Valley to a 56-52 District 9 Class A girls basketball semifinal win over Otto-Eldred Wednesday night.

The game was played at St. Marys High School.

“That game was nip and tuck all the way,” Falcons coach Dave Sherman said. “I told the girls before the game there was no pressure tonight because we had another game to play regardless.

“But we all knew what we wanted. And we had to win tonight to get that game to happen.”

The Falcons (20-5) earned the program's first-ever appearance in a District 9 championship game with the win. They will face unbeaten North Clarion Friday night or Saturday, most likely at Clarion University's Tippin Gymnasium.

North Clarion owns wins of 43-34 and 54-49 over A-C Valley this season. The latter win was in the Keystone-Shortway Athletic Conference title game.

“We played them three times last year and we'll be playing them three times this year ... plus we play them in summer league,” Sherman said. “We know each other pretty well.

“You have to deal with Tori Obenrader and the 20 rebounds she gets a game. We have to work around that.”

A-C Valley had to deal with Camryn Thomas of Otto-Eldred (20-4) Wednesday night. She entered the game with 1,312 career points and 17 per game this season. She scored 18 Wednesday

“We put Ellie on her at times, but we didn't have her guard her the whole game because we needed Ellie's offense, too,” Sherman said.

The Falcons had a scant lead when Thompson got behind the defense after the Lady Terrors' turnover and scored a lay-up with five seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Thompson, A-C Valley's all-time leading scorer with 1,467 points, led the Falcons with 24 points. Cami McNany had 10, including a pair of treys.

A-C VALLEY 56

Cami McNany 4 0-0 10, Ellie Thoompson 9 5-6 24, Annie Viertel 2 0-1 4, Brooke Irwin 3 0-0 6, Kylee Eaton 4 0-0 8, Allison Sherman 1 2-2 4. Totals: 23 7-9 56.

OTTO-ELDRED 52

Allison Cousins 5 2-3 13, Alyssa Shelander 2 0-0 6, Camryn Thomas 6 6-7 18, Brittany Greeley 0 1-2 1, Jadelynn Spinney 2 0-0 5, Emily Smith 1 0-0 2, Haylee Fredrick 3 0-0 7. Totals: 19 9-12 52.

A-C Valley 14 15 13 14 — 56

Otto-Eldred16 10 13 13 — 52

3-point goals: McNany 2, Thompson; Shelander 2, Spinney, Smith, Fredrick

Next: District 9 1A final vs. North Clarion, TBA