Some of the players on this year’s team weren’t even born the last time the Dallas Mountaineers made it to Round 2 of the PIAA Girls Basketball Playoffs and nobody seems quite sure if the program ever made it past that point.
There’s one thing everyone around Dallas is well-aware of, though.
The last time time the Mountaineers reached the second round of states, they lost.
That was in 2003, when Dallas dropped a 54-52 overtime game to Nazareth.
“I was there,” Dallas coach Kelly Johnson said.
So Dallas gets a unique opportunity — and a chance to advance — when it plays District 12 champion Landsdale Catholic in a PIAA Class 4A second-round game at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Easton Middle School.
“This hasn’t happened in awhile for us,” Dallas forward Lauren Charlton said. “That’s just giving us more motivation to make history.”
Holy Redeemer doesn’t have to go back quite as far to find success in the state tournament.
The Royals ran through a stretch of four consecutive trips to the state quarterfinals, ending with a second-round PIAA loss in 2018 and a first-round exit last year.
But they’re back on the upswing and looking for their fifth quarterfinals in seven years as they take on District 12 runner-up Imhotep Charter in a 6 p.m. game Tuesday at Martz Hall in Pottsville.
While Redeemer is accustomed to coming up clutch in the state playoffs, Dallas is not.
But the Mountaineers didn’t let that deter them while disposing of District 3 No. 4 seed Shamokin, 58-22 while playing in, and winning, the school’s first state game since that 2003 season.
“We were just more motivated than anything,” said Charlton, a University of Pennsyslvania-bound senior who scored a team-high 17 points in that state win. “Obviously, we were a little nervous, being our first state game. But as seniors, we want to keep playing as long as possible.”
The cool thing is, people on the outside seem to want that too.
Johnson turns straight to Facebook, where this Dallas state team received some warm wishes from the last one.
“We got a message from a player on that 2003 team, Shannon Thomas, wishing everyone good luck on Facebook,” Johnson said. “It means a lot to a lot of people..”
It’ll mean even more to the Mountaineers if they can take it one step farther.
“We know there are some great teams we’re going to be facing,” Charlton said. “We want to try to stay focused and positive. We’ve been working so hard for the past few weeks.
“We’re all so excited.”
Here’s a look at the two remaining Wyoming Valley Conference teams hoping the excitement continues through the second round of the state playoffs.
CLASS 3A
Holy Redeemer (21-6)
vs. Imhotep Charter (15-13)
6 p.m. Tuesday, Martz Hall
Now that they’ve reaquainted themselves with winning in the state tournament, the Holy Redeemer Royals want to get back another familiar feeling: reaching the state quarterfinal round.
It wasn’t so long ago that Redeemer made four consecutive trips to the PIAA quarterfinals, reaching the state semifinals as a Class 3A team in 2014 and as a Class 2A team in 2015 and getting through the first two rounds of PIAA play as a Class 2A tea in 2016 and as a 3A school in 2017.
Senior Sam Yencha was in the Royals starting lineup for the last of those runs and remembers the calm and confidence that 2017 Redeemer team played with — something that showed up again in Redeemer’s 55-38 victory over District 4 champion Bloomsburg in a state opener Friday.
“Sometimes, it just takes us awhile to find our game,” said Yencha, who helped rally the Royals back from a first-quarter deficit and halftime tie against Bloomsburg. “We’ve had slow starts before. We know not to give up.”
District 2 silver medalist Redeemer may need such resiliency against Imhotep, the District 12 runner-up.
The Panthers are barely above .500 and had their decade of dominanance at the top of the Philadelphia Public League ended with a loss to Mastery Charter in the title game, but can still pack a pretty good punch.
First-time state participant Pequea Valley discovered that in the first round when, leading midway through the third quarter, the Panthers pulled out a rattling full-court press that created 14 turnovers in the period and translated into Imhotep’s 58-47 win.
The Panthers aren’t overly tall, with 5-foot-10 senior forward Alyssa Herder the biggest starter, but they are balanced. Herder and star sophomore Taniyah Finley both finished with 16 points in last week’s state opener, while Janai Smith hit 13 points and Ayasha Thomas added 11.
Meanwhile, Yencha was just above her average while tossing in 18 points to go with her seven rebounds against Bloomsburg, but forward Liv Moore has been turning it on in the postseason.
Better known as a volleyball star who signed to play that sport for Bloomsburg University last year, Moore hit a playoff-high 21 points and also added seven rebounds against Bloomsburg. Add in an important three-point play by Aleia Atherton in the opening state round, four points in a pivotal third quarter by Aubrey Curley and seven points off the bench from Faith Sekol and the Royals are showing some strong balance themselves.
“When our team attacks,” Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said, “we’re really hard to beat.”
The winner will face either District 3 champion Delone Catholic (25-1) or District 11 champ North Schuylkill (22-5) in the quarterfinals Friday. District 2 champion Dunmore, now 25-1 after clubbing Constitution 62-23 in another state opener, will face Neumann Goretti at 6 p.m. at Freedom High School in Bethlehem in another Class 3A second-round game.
CLASS 4A
Dallas (23-5) vs.
Landsale Catholic (23-3)
6 p.m. Wednesday, Easton MS
While smooth-shooting Lauren Charlton and her 17-point average gets a bunch of credit, and attention from opposing defenses, District 2 runner-up Dallas relies on two things that are difficult to prepare for:
Teamwork and dogged defense.
While Charlton is the team’s top scorer, she’s not shy about sharing the ball and that worked well in the team’s state opener, where Deanna Wallace finished with eight points, Bella Hill hit 10 and Morgan MacNeely and Julia Kocher each scored six in a 58-32 shellacking of Shamokin.
And when she’s not scoring, 6-foot Claire Charlton is closing lanes and affecting opposing shots as a key defender in the paint.
That Dallas defense held high-scoring and unbeaten Scranton Prep to 39 points through three quarters of a 52-35 District 2 title game loss and had limited teams to 40 points or less in 11 games this season.
“The next round, it gives us a lot of pride in what we’ve accomplished so far,” Dallas coach Kelly Johnson said. “We worked hard. It hasn’t been easy, throughout the season and fall and preseason. We’ve watched a lot of film, done a lot of preparing for our opponents.”
Lansdale Catholic is one opponent that’s pretty tough to prepare for.
Like Dallas, the Crusaders are well-balanced and can produce points from just about anywhere on the floor.
Junior 5-foot-10 forward Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, already a 1,000-point career scorer, led Lansdale Catholic with 18 points in a 63-48 first-round state victory over Bermudian Springs. But senior Riley Davitis, was right behind with 17 points, freshman Gabby Casey scored 13 and Lauren Edwards added 12.
The Crusaders went 10-0 to win the Blue Division of the Philadelphia Catholic League as the league split into two divisions this season, but lost to Archbishop Wood, 81-42 in the quarterfinals of the league playoffs.
“I think I recognized a few of their players,” Charlton said, “I know I went to camp with some of them. I feel I know what kind of players they are. I see a lot of these teams playing AAU and at recruiting camps. We’re just going to go out and play our game. Even where we’re at right now, I’m really happy with that.
“But hopefully we can come out with a win.”
The winner of tonight’s battle will face either District 3 runner-up Eastern York or District 12 No. 3 team Bonner Prendergast in the state quarterfinals Saturday. District 2 Class 4A champion Scranton Prep will try to extend its 27-0 season another round when it faces District 11 No. 3 team Allentown Central Catholic at 7:30 p.m. at Hazleton Area High School.
