No. 6 Cassadaga Valley found that out the hard way Thursday evening.

The Cougars turned the ball over 36 times and No. 2 Frewsburg converted those giveaways into 35 points as the Bears won their Section VI Class C-2 semifinal, 49-41, at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex.

“We wanted to stay the course and stay committed to what we were doing, which was to try and wear them out. I think in the second half, we saw the fruits of that,” Frewsburg coach Jeff Collver said. “Our hustle and our aggressive defense turned into enough turnovers where we were able to score.”

Senior Gabby Iuculano led the way for Frewsburg with 18 points to go along with three steals while eighth-grader Alex Hultberg added 11 points, eight rebounds and six steals.

“The pressure was on her to score … she had a box-and-one … and there’s no magic solution for that,” Collver said of Iuculano. ” … She did a good job today of fighting.”

The victory sends the Bears into Saturday’s 4 p.m. sectional final against No. 1 Maple Grove, a 72-26 winner over No. 4 Holland in Thursday’s second semifinal.

Senior Brooke Repine led the Cougars with 11 points to go along with 10 rebounds while sophomore McKenzie Haskins had nine points and five rebounds.

“I am so proud of my girls. We played incredibly well,” Cassadaga Valley coach Todd Fryberger said. “We worked so hard this week. That was the best we’ve played defense. They’ve come so far from the beginning of the season.”

Cassadaga Valley led 18-17 at halftime before Frewsburg used a 17-point third quarter to take control.

Junior Amanda Dilts gave the Bears the lead for good at 26-25 with a second-chance bucket with 3:44 left in the period. Sophomore Kaylee Constantino then turned a turnover into a basket and sophomore Mikayla Gabalski-Jones turned one of her seven steals into a layup before finding freshman Elise Sposato open alone under the basket to give Frewsburg a 32-25 lead.

“She’s still not quite 100 percent yet,” Collver said of Gabalski-Jones. ” … She was definitely better tonight.”

The Cougars eventually stopped the run and Repine closed the quarter with a pair of free throws to make it 34-31, but by that point the damage was already done as Cassadaga Valley had turned the ball over 10 times and gone just 3 of 11 from the field in the quarter.

“Ball security had been a little bit of an issue for us all year,” Fryberger said. “That’s something we will work on.”

Cougars junior Meghan LeBaron found fellow junior Bella Ruiz for a basket and Ruiz returned the favor to LeBaron the next trip down the floor as Cassadaga Valley pulled within a point early in the fourth quarter, but Hultberg converted a pair of free throws and then hit one of the Bears’ two fourth-quarter 3-pointers to push the lead back up to six with 5:53 remaining.

“She had a nice stat line right across the board,” Collver said of Hultberg. “She did a nice job. She hit some big shots at the end.”

Hultberg eventually pushed the lead to 11 following a Sposato 3-pointer and the closest the Cougars would get down the stretch would be eight points.

“Elise has got some quickness that really helps us. There were definitely times that we needed that,” Collver said of Sposato. “She can run the point and Gabby can play the wing a little bit. Shooting, ball handling, quickness on defense, she brings a lot to the table.”

Now Frewsburg will have just one day to prepare for a Red Dragons team that beat the Bears twice during the regular season, 53-42 in Frewsburg on Dec. 20, and 46-32 at Maple Grove on Feb. 15.

“This is the playoffs. You have to bring your ‘A’ game,” Collver said. “That was not our ‘A’ game today, but we survived and moved on.”

NOTES: The Bears were 20 of 72 (27.8 percent) from the field, including 2 of 17 (11.8 percent) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 18 times. … Gabalski-Jones had four assists; Sposato had five steals; and Dilts had six rebounds, three assists and two steals for Frewsburg. … Cassadaga Valley was 16 of 49 (32.7 percent) from the field, including 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range. … LeBaron had 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals; sophomore Kaylee Pattyson had eight points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots; and Ruiz had eight points for the Cougars.