H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL: Schuylkill Haven, Williams Valley advance to District 11 Championship
· Yahoo Sports
POTTSVILLE — The Williams Valley and Schuylkill Haven girls’ basketball teams cruised to District 11 tournament semifinal wins, Tuesday, at Martz Hall.
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The Vikings (17-6) started out the playoff action with a 31-19 win over Shenandoah Valley (11-12) before Schuylkill Haven (19-4, 13-1) ran past Pine Grove (13-10, 6-7) in the second half for a 42-26 semifinal win.
“Our girls responded well, it’s a new season now and everyone is 0-0,” Williams Valley coach Shane Zellers said. “Tip your hat to Shenandoah Valley, they had us on our toes the last few weeks.”
Williams Valley advances to the Class 2A championship game against Marian Catholic (14-9) and Schuylkill Haven will match up with Executive Education (14-6) in the Class 3A title game, both on Friday.
“We’ve grown as a team throughout the season and we like to get up and down the floor and we did a good job of that tonight,” Schuylkill Haven coach Tony Sanders said.
Williams Valley 31, Shenandoah Valley 19
The Vikings went on a 15-0 scoring run around halftime which was capped by a pair of Presley Shomper baskets for the 19-6 lead with a few minutes left in the third quarter.
“We knew we had to come out and hit some shots and we had to play defense and the girls followed the gameplan, responded and they played their tails off,” Zellers said.
Williams Valley hit four three-pointers, including three in the first half from Quin Smeltz, Ireland Kasper and Shomper for the 13-6 halftime lead.
Shomper led the Vikings with 11 points and Kasper had eight points. Ella Kobularik brought in 13 rebounds to lead the way on the boards.
“Early on we weren’t finishing possessions and weren’t limiting them to one shot and once we cleaned that up it was tough for them to score,” Zellers said. “We tried to take away the three-point line.”
Kasper and Smeltz each knocked down three’s for the 13-6 lead at the end of the first half.
Shomper posted five points and hit a three for the 19-6 lead before Mallory Miller and Kasper each posted layups for the 23-9 lead at the end of the third quarter.
“She’s (Shomper) a sophomore now and she’s played in some big time games,” Zellers said. “We challenged her offensively and defensively and when she hits shots we win games.”
Williams Valley’s third quarter was highlighted by a 10-3 scoring run, led by Shomper’s four points for the 23-9 lead.
Gianna Donovan hit a pair of three’s for Shenandoah Valley before Kasper knocked down a three to give Williams Valley the 31-19 win.
Gianna Donovan led Shenandoah Valley with 11 points and Joceyln Chagolla scored six points.
SHENANDOAH VALLEY (19) — Troutman 0 0-0 0, L. Salguero 0 0-0 0, Donovan 4 0-0 11, Chagolla 3 0-4 6, Monahan 1 0-0 2, Salguero 0 0-2 0. Totals 8 0-6 19.
WILLIAMS VALLEY (31) — Smeltz 2 1-2 6, Miller 1 2-2 4, Kobularik 1 0-0 2, Kasper 3 0-0 8, Strenosky 0 0-0 0, Shomper 5 0-0 11, Koppenhaver 0 0-0 0, Readinger 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 3-4 31.
SV (11-12) 2 4 5 10 —19
WV (17-6) 5 8 10 8 — 31
3-FG: Donovan 3, Kasper 2, Smeltz
Schuylkill Haven 42, Pine Grove 26
The Hurricanes roared after halftime when they dashed to a 19-6 scoring run for the 36-19 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Audrey Hutchinson and McKenna Runkle teamed up to score 10 points in the third quarter on the way to the lopsided second half win.
“The girls played really hard in the second half,” Sanders said. “We’ve grown as a team throughout the season and we played well in transition tonight.”
The Hurricanes jumped out to an 11-4 lead after a pair of three’s from Runkle and Hutchinson by the end of the first quarter.
Lainey Fidler hit a three to bring Pine Grove within a 15-11 difference before the Cardinals brought the deficit within 17-13 at halftime.
Schuylkill Haven made noise after halftime when Hutchinson scored six points and Siket hit a three and added five points for the 36-19 lead at the end of the third.
Hutchinson posted a pair of layups in the fourth quarter for the 42-26 win.
Callee Leffler and Kam Heming each scored six points to lead Pine Grove. Hollyn Sampson had 11 rebounds to lead the Cardinals on the boards.
PG (13-10, 6-7);6;7;6;7;—26
SH (19-4, 13-1);11;6;19;6;—42
Pine Grove 26 — Gehres 0 0-0 0, Koppenhaver 1 1-2 3, Leffler 2 1-2 6, M. Umbenhauer 1 0-0 2, Heming 2 2-2 6, Reichert 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-0 0, Verdensky 0 0-0 0, Fidler 2 0-0 5, Sampson 2 0-0 4. 10 4-6 26.
Schuylkill Haven 42 — Hutchinson 7 0-0 15, Runkle 5 2-4 14, Siker 2 0-0 5, Terefencko 3 1-2 7, Benedict 0 0-0 0, Houvig 0 0-0 0, Strenkoski 0 0-0 0, Bayer 0 0-0 0, Brand 0 0-0 0, Farmer 0 0-0 0, Kovaleski 0 0-0 0, Wade 0 1-2 1. 17 4-8 42.
3-FG: Runkle 2, Hutchinson, Siket, Leffler, Fidler