Lake-Lehman’s Ella Wilson (14) drives to the basket to score two of her 17 points for the Black Knights on Wednesday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Ella Wilson (14) measures up an outside shot for Lake-Lehman in Wednesday night’s WVC semifinal win over Hazleton Area at Holy Redeemer High School.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman’s Lia Keefe (15) scores on a fast break for the Black Knights, who advanced to Saturday’s WVC championship game.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman’s Hailey Kline (11) tries to pass the ball around Hazleton Area’s Brianna Kennedy.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Brenna Hunt (12) goes up for a shot to score two of her game-high 20 points in Wednesday’s WVC semifinal victory over Hazleton Area at Holy Redeemer High School.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — The start wasn’t as impressive as the last game where Lake-Lehman scored the first 20 points.
The result, though, was equally fulfilling.
Lehman jumped on Hazleton Area early and maintained a double-digit lead throughout most of the game on the way to a 61-43 victory in a Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball semifinal victory.
Lehman (20-4) led wire-to-wire after scoring the game’s first seven points and taking a 17-4 lead late in the opening quarter. The Black Knights will get Holy Redeemer in the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Dallas High School.
Hazleton Area (16-7) is off until next week where it will be the top seed in the District 2/4 Class 6A playoffs.
Lehman has won two of three games against Redeemer this season, including 60-46 last Friday in the WVC Division 2 title game where the Black Knights started with a 20-0 run.
“Our first goal was to win the division, which we did,” said Lehman’s Ella Wilson, who scored 17 points and had seven rebounds. “Our next goal is to win the conference, which we will play Saturday. We’re just fighting so hard and want it so bad. We’re playing great as a team.”
Molly Jenkins, Hailey Kline and Wilson opened the game with basket. Brenna Hunt hit a free throw for a 7-0 lead with 5:57 left in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Hazleton Area missed its first seven shots. The Cougars got within 22-13 midway through the second quarter, but a 3-pointer by Wilson bumped the lead back to double digits.
Hazleton Area made another run late in the second quarter, moving within 31-23 at halftime. Wilson, though, opened the third quarter with a pair of basket and Hunt nailed a 3-pointer to make it 38-25 barely two minutes into the period.
Lehman wasn’t threatened the rest of the way.
“We’re very focused in our practices,” said Hunt, who finished with a game-high 20 points. “We’re there to have fun, but we’re there to win. Winning is fun.
“We’re so focused. We want to win. Our goal is the arena (for the District 2 Class 3A championship game), but our next goal is to win the championship here.”
Lehman shot 25-of-39 (64%) from the floor.
Alexis Reimold had 15 points and Sophia Shults added 13 for Hazleton Area.
WVC Semifinals
Lake-Lehman 61, Hazleton Area 43
HAZLETON AREA (43) — Yost 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0, Reimold 6 2-3 15, S.Shults 6 0-0 13, Kennedy 2 0-0 4, Lagowy 2 2-2 6, Macko 0 0-0 0, Forschner 0 0-0 0, E.Shults 1 0-0 2, Fry 1 1-4 3, Hebel 0 0-0 0, Gasper 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-9 43.
LAKE-LEHMAN (61) — Kline 3 0-0 6, Hunt 8 1-2 20, Wilson 6 4-4 17, Keefe 3 2-6 8, Jenkins 4 0-2 8, Biscotto 1 0-0 2, Corcoran 0 0-0 0, Battin 0 0-0 0, Chipego 0 0-0 0, Oliver 0 0-0 0, Morgan o 0-0 0, James 0 0-0 0, Makarewicz 0 0-0 0, Wallace 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 7-14 61.
Hazleton Area`7`16`8`12 — 43
Lake-Lehman`17`14`15`15 — 61
Three-point goals — HAZ 2 (Reimold, S.Shults); LL 4 (Hunt 3, Wilson)
