LEHMAN TWP. — In a game where points were at a premium, Holy Redeemer’s Angelina Corridoni had just two.
They were the biggest two of the Royals’ season.
Corridoni scored inside with 3.8 seconds left as Redeemer edged Lake-Lehman 39-37 Saturday afternoon in a District 2 Class 3A girls basketball semifinal game.
Redeemer (17-9) will play for a district championship for the first time since 2020. The Royals will face Dunmore (21-3) at noon on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. Both teams clinched spots in the PIAA 3A tournament by winning Saturday. Dunmore defeated Mid Valley 56-21.
“That was our goal from the beginning to get to the arena with this team,” Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said. “We reached that goal and beat a fantastic team to do that.”
Lehman (21-5) will try to make the state tournament the same way it did last year — by winning the third-place game. The Black Knights will host Mid Valley (15-9) on Tuesday, most likely at 7 p.m.
Redeemer led 34-30 with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter, only to see Lehman rip off seven consecutive points for a 37-34 advantage at the 1:19 mark. Redeemer then tied it on a 3-pointer by Jillian DelBalso at 1:07, setting up the dramatic ending.
The Royals inbounded the ball at midcourt and swung it around the perimeter while Corridoni loitered in the low left corner. She began creeping toward the basket unnoticed — except by DelBalso, who zipped a pass to her from the top of the 3-point arc. Corridoni kissed her shot high off the glass and it fell in.
“I think they were playing up because they were trying to pressure us from not getting a 3-pointer,” Corridoni said. “So they were kind of not worrying about anyone below us. I think it was Jillian. She just saw me. It’s just the chemistry of our team. We knew how to get around it.”
Lehman called a timeout with 3.3 seconds remaining and came oh-so-close to sending the game into overtime.
The Black Knights got the ball down court quickly and Hailey Kline was able to take a deep 3-pointer from the left side contested by Redeemer’s Mia Ashton. The shot sailed over the rim and Lehman’s Brenna Hunt came flying in, and in one motion caught the errant shot in midair and put it in the basket. However, the buzzer sounded just before the ball hit her hands.
The victory was Redeemer’s second in five games against Lehman this season. In the last two games, both won by Lehman, the Black Knights shot incredibly well from the floor.
They started hot Saturday, hitting 4-of-7 attempts in the first quarter to take a 12-8 lead. The shooting cratered in the middle two quarters as they shot 3-of-26 and went over eight minutes without a field goal. Lehman also left some points at the foul line, hitting just 17-of-27 free throws.
“We had a poor shooting day,” Lehman coach Charlie Lavan said. “That first half, I thought we could have really extended that lead, but missed foul shots. Uncharacteristically, we took some bad shots, off-balance stuff we were throwing up.”
NOTE: The game started a few minutes late because of an accident on Route 309 North near the turn for the back way to Lake-Lehman High School. One of the game officials was stuck in the long back-up of traffic that was at a standstill for nearly 30 minutes.
District 2 Class 3A Semifinals
Holy Redeemer 39, Lake-Lehman 37
HOLY REDEEMER (39) — Albrecht 3 3-6 9, Paige Kroptavich 0 0-0 0, Racicky 2 0-0 4, Ashton 3 2-2 8, DelBalso 5 0-0 12, Cegelka 1 0-0 2, Corridoni 1 0-0 2, Boylan 1 0-0 2, Chimoch 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-8 39.
LAKE-LEHMAN (37) — Kline 2 7-12 12, Hunt 2 3-5 7, Wilson 3 4-6 11, Keefe 1 0-0 2, Jenkins 0 3-4 3, Biscotto 1 0-0 2. Totals 9 17-27 37.
Holy Redeemer`8`4`15`12 — 39
Lake-Lehman`12`7`5`13 — 37
Three-point goals — HR 2 (DelBalso 2). LL 2 (Kline, Wilson).
