Holy Redeemer players celebrate in front of their bench as the third-seeded Royals went on the road Friday and knocked off No. 2 Lake-Lehman to reach the district championship game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Holy Redeemer players Kearney Quinn, left and Tessa Cegelka celebrate their win over Lake-Lehman in Friday night’s District 2 Class 3A semifinals.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Holy Redeemer players rush the court after Friday’s victory in the District 2 Class 3A semifinals.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Holy Redeemer’s Megan Albrecht battles to try to get free from the guard of Lake Lehman’s Kinley Purdy in the fourth quarter.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Holy Redeemer’s Tessa Cegelka (2) has her shot disrupted by Lake-Lehman’s Olivia Corcoran (13).
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
LEHMAN TWP. — Holy Redeemer demonstrated early on that the third matchup with Lake-Lehman wouldn’t be like the first two.
No embarrassing 30-point loss. No offensive free-for-all resulting in another loss.
Instead, Redeemer clamped down on defense Friday night, defeating Lehman 54-37 in a District 2 Class 3A girls basketball semifinal game.
Third-seeded Redeemer (20-5) will defend its district title against top-seeded Dunmore (21-2) at noon Saturday, March 1, at Mohegan Arena.
Second-seeded Lehman ended its season at 18-7.
Brooke Kroptavich scored 17 points to lead four Royals in double figures. Bella Boylan scored 13, Megan Albrecht and McKenzie Chimock had 11 each.
The Black Knights rolled Redeemer 65-35 at home on Jan. 3 and then outscored the Royals 65-60 on the road on Jan. 23 on the way to the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship.
“Personally and as a team, we really wanted to get back in here,” Kroptavich said. “We wanted to prove we could beat them and that those two losses didn’t mean anything. We proved it by going to the arena and beating them.”
Redeemer, though, established its defense early and never let Lehman get into an offensive rhythm as the Black Knights finished with their third-lowest offensive output of the season.
“We communicated better this time,” Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said. “If we played our defense and helped and talked, that was our game plan coming in.”
The Royals held Lehman without a point for a three-minute stretch of the second quarter. They ran off seven consecutive points to reverse a three-point deficit. Boylan finished off the first half by going coast-to-coast with a steal for a 24-16 halftime advantage.
Lehman’s Ella Wilson, one of the top players in the WVC, did everything she could to get the Black Knights back in the game in the third quarter. She scored eight of her team’s 10 points, but consecutive baskets by Kroptavich in the final minute resulted in a 36-26 Redeemer lead going into the fourth.
The Royals busted the game open with a 7-0 run to start the fourth and held Lehman to three shots in the opening four minutes.
Rebounding was also huge as Redeemer finished with a 33-15 advantage. The Royals on several occasions had second- and even third-chance opportunities in the offense end while limiting Lehman to one shot.
Boylan crashed the boards for nine rebounds followed by Albrecht with eight. Chimock and Kroptavich had five.
Wilson, the only senior on the roster, finished her Lehman career with 17 points and nine rebounds.
District 2 Class 3A Semifinals
Holy Redeemer 54, Lake-Lehman 37
HOLY REDEEMER (54) — Tessa Cegelka 0 0-2 0, Megan Albrecht 3 4-6 11, Bella Boylan 5 3-8 13, Brooke Kroptavich 8 1-1 19, McKenzie Chimock 2 6-10 11, Gillian Parsons 1 0-0 2, Kayla Pekarovsky 0 0-0 0, Kearney Quinn 0 0-0 0, Mary Lombardi 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 14-27 54.
LAKE-LEHMAN (37) — Delcia Biscotto 0 0-0 0, Ella Wilson 7 2-8 17, Kathryn Morgan 1 3-4 5, Kinley Purdy 2 6-12 11, Olivia Oliver 2 0-0 4, Olivia Corcoran 0 0-0 0, Amanda Battin 0 0-0 0, Morgan Breslford 0 0-0 0, Kae Dougherty 0 0-0 0, Kate Hynick 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 11-24 37.
Holy Redeemer`8`16`12`18 — 54
Lake-Lehman`9`7`10`11 — 37
Three-point goals: HR 2 (Albrecht, Chimock). LL 2 (Wilson, Purdy).
